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LA 111 



THE ARTS COURSE AT MEDIEVAL UNIVER- 
SITIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 
TO GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC 



A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements 
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 



BY 



LOUIS JOHN PAETOW 



CH/.MPAIHN. ILLINOIS 
1910 



THE ARTS COURSE AT MEDIEVAL UNIVER- 
SITIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 
TO GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC 



A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements 
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 



BY 



LOUIS JOHN PAETOW 

ii 



CHAMPAK1N. ILLINOIS 
1910 



N>& 



Printed from the University Studies of the University of Illinois, Vol. [II, 
Xo. 7, January, iqio. 



Ti. 



AU6 21 tin 



PREFACE. 

My acknowledgments are due above all to Professor Charles 
H. Haskins, of Harvard, formerly of the University of Wisconsin, 
under whom this work was begun and who constantly aided me 
with encouragement and scholarly advice. For similar kind- 
nesses I am also indebted to Professors Arthur C. Howland and 
Edward P. Cheyney of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dana 
('. Munro of the University of Wisconsin. Professors Lewis Flint 
Anderson, William Abbot Oldfather and Macellus M. Larson of 
the University of Illinois carefully read the manuscript. I wish 
to thank them for their valuable suggestions. During my stay iu 
Paris, Professor Ch. V. Langlois of the University of Paris aided 
me very considerably in my work at the Sorbonne and at the vari- 
ous libraries of the city. With Professor C. Molinier of the Uni- 
versity of Toulouse I carried on a correspondence to which thai 
gentleman devoted an amount of time, patience, and scholarly re- 
search such as I should never have expected from a total stranger. 
I am also especially indebted to Professor James Smith Reid, who 
kindly gave me access to some manuscripts at Gonville and Cains 
College, Cambridge, England, and to Walter M. Smith, Librarian 
of the University of Wisconsin, who helped to make my work easy 
and pleasant at Madison, Wisconsin. 

Louis J. Paetoyv. 
University of Illinois, 
Urbana, Illinois. 

Feb. 12, 1910. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



I XTRODUCTION 7-i° 

CHAPTER I. 

The Neglect of the Ancient Classics at Medieval Universities 11-32 

What the arts course did not contain, 11. The absence of the 
ancient classics, 11. The Twelfth Century Renaissance, 11. The 
classics at Chartres, 12; at Orleans, 13; at Paris, 15. John Gar- 
land and the classics at Paris, 16. The Battle of the Seven Arts 
by Henri d'Andeli, ig. Causes for the neglect of the classics, 
20: — (1) Clerical feeling against profane literature, 20; (2) Pop- 
ularity of good medieval Latin literature, 23; (3) Renewed 
interest in science, 25; (4) Rise of medicine, law, and the ars 
dictaminis, 26; (5) Increasing popularity of logic, 29; Other pos- 
sible causes, 32. 

CHAPTER II. 

Grammar. Decline of the Study of the Language 33-66 

Donatus and Priscian, 33. The "old" and the "new gram- 
mar," ^t,. The new grammars: — (1) the Doctrinale of Alex- 
ander of Villedieu, 36; (2) the Alexander, 38; (3) the Graecismtts 
of Eberhard of Bethune, 38. Grammar at the University of 
Paris, 39. John Garland's criticism of the Doctrinale and Graecis- 
mus, 40. Roger Bacon, 44. Decline of grammar at Paris, 45. 
Grammar in Italy, 47. At the universities of southern France. 49. 
The grammar course at Toulouse, 49, and Perpignan, 51. Separ- 
ate faculty of grammar, and degrees in grammar, 55;. Decline 
of logic at Toulouse and increase of interest in grammar. 58. 
Humanism at universities: — Italy, 60: England and Germany, 61; 
Paris, 61 ; elsewhere in France 63. 

CHAPTER III. 

Rhetoric. The "Business Course" at Medieval Universities 07 01 

Rhetoric at the schools of the Middle Ages, 67. The old- 
fashioned rhetoric at medieval universities : — Paris, 68 ; other 
French universities, 69; Italy, 69; Oxford, 69. The new fashioned 
rhetoric, ars dictaminis, 70. Alberich of Monte-Cassino and lii^ 
works, 72. Later manuals (the cursus), 73. The ars dictaminis 
at Bologna. 74. Boncompagno, 74. Bene of Lucca and Guidci 
Faba, 79. Apparent disappearance of the ars dictaminis, 80. The 
ars notaria, 82. Raynerius, 82. Salathiel, S2. Rolandinus 
Passagerius, 83. The ars dictaminis in France: — at Paris, S5 : at 
( Irleans, 87. Ponce of Provence, an itinerant dictator, 89. The 
art elsewhere in France, 90. 

SUMMARY AXD COXCLUSIOX 92-94 



APPENDIX I. 

A Time-Table of Lectures in the Arts Course of the University of 

Toulouse 95-100 

APPENDIX II. 

Survivals of the Ancient Classics, circa 122$ to 1325 101-105 

APPENDIX III. 

The Text-book "Alexander" Used at Toulouse and Other Universi- 
ties of Southern France 106-112 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

1. Primary Sources > 1 13-120 

( 1 ) Manuscript Sources. 
( _' ) Printed Sources. 
Sei ondArv Works uo-134 



INTRODUCTION. 

The arts course at medieval universities was named after the 
traditional seven liberal arts which had come down as a heritage 
from Greek and Roman times and had been taught in all the 
schools of the Middle Ages. They were classified into two groups, 
the trivium: grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic; and the quadriv- 
i a in : arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. 1 A common be- 
lief is that these subjects were taught in the arts course of uni- 
versities in very much the same way as they had been in the lesser 
medieval schools. Such a conception is dangerously erroneous be- 
cause it helps to obscure one of the greatest intellectual and educa- 
tional revolutions in history, that which occurred in the twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries and was the direct cause for the rise of 
universities. Its chief features were interest in logic or dialectic 
and philosophy, the systematization of theology, the rise of canon 
law and Roman civil law and of medicine. 2 

This revolution had a most decided effect upon the seven 
liberal arts. Dialectic or logic became so important that it 
tended to obscure all the other arts. It was taught almost wholly 
on the basis of Latin translations of the books of Aristotle. 1'p 
to about the end of the twelfth century only a very few of his 
works were known; but then came the influx of the "New Aristo- 
tle" from the East and through Moorish Spain, and soon the 
western world possessed in translations almost all his extant 

'The following are the best special treatise* on the seven liberal arts: — Meier, 
Die Sieben Freien Kunste im Mittelalter; Parker, "The Seven Liberal Arts". 
English Historical Reviezv, V. 417-461 ; Specht, Gescltichte des Unterrichtszvesens 
■11 Deutschland von den altesten Zeiten bis sur Mitte des dreizehnten Jahrhund- 
erts ; Appuhn, Das Trivium und Quadrivium in Theorie und Praxis. Erster 
Theil — Das Trivium: Abelson, The Seven Liberal .Iris. A Study in Mediaeval 
Culture. 

"At the universities the three higher faculties came to be theology, law. and 
medicine. The arts course was decidedly affected by this classification because to 
a considerable degree it was considered as merely preparatory work for the higher 
faculties. 

(497) 



8 

works. 3 His books so fascinated that age that they formed the 
basis of almost all the instruction in the arts course at the 
medieval universities. Into a discussion of this major portion of 
the course I shall not enter. Its outward features have been 
fairly well depicted in the various histories of universities, and a 
deeper investigation into its method, aim and object leads into the 
realm of scholastic philosophy which is entirely beyond my scope. 4 
During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries there was a dis- 
tinct revival of interest in science, one manifestation of which was 
the development of medicine."' This augured well for the develop- 
ment of the subjects of the quadrivium and for a time they were 
borne along with the tide of the new intellectual movement. Rut 
it was not. long before they sadly lagged behind and there was very 
little real scientific interest until the fifteenth century. At Paris 
and other French universities the quadrivium was almost entirely 
obscured during the latter thirteenth and the fourteenth cen- 
turies. 7 At Oxford the theory and practice of the seven liberal 

'On the introduction of the "New Aristotle" see especially, Mandonnet, Siger 
tie Brabant, xvii-lxxiv; and Luquet, Aristote ct I'Universite de Paris pendant 
!e XHIe siecle. 

'For a typical but practically unknown program of the work done in the arts 
course at medieval universities see Appendix I. 

"See below, p. 25. 

"Music occupies a somewhat unique position. Owing largely to its utility in 
the church service, it developed steadily during our period but mostly outside of the 
arts course at universities. Felder, Geschichte der Wissenschaftlichen Studien im 
Franziskanerorden, 424; Abelson, The Seven Liberal Arts, 12S. 

'During the first half of the thirteenth century, preachers sometimes warned 
the students of Paris against devoting themselves too much to geometry and 
astronomy. (Haskins, in .inter. Hist. Rev., X, 9 and 11.) A statute of 1215 still 
mentions the quadrivium at the University of Paris. (Denifle et Chatelain, Chartu- 
larium, I, 78.) The statutes of 1255 say nothing more about it. (Chartularium, 
T, 278.) Some time before 1366 a bachelor about to be licensed was obliged to 
take oath that he had heard one hundred lectures on mathematics. The faculty 
interpreted this to mean that he had read one whole book on the subject such as th< 
Dc Sphaera Mundi of John of Holywood and had begun another {Chartularium, 
TI, 678.). The statutes of 1366 simply require "some mathematical" books for 
the license {Chartularium, III, 145). In the year 1378 King Charles V appointed 
two masters of arts at the University of Paris who were to devote themselves 

(498) 



arts was somewhat better preserved and the quadrivium was at all 
times more in vogue than at Paris but not to any considerable ex- 
tent. 8 In Italy it was not until late in the fourteenth century 
that scientific instruction became at all important at Bologna 
and other universities." No doubt much might still be done to 
make clearer the instruction in sciences at medieval universities 
on the basis of the quadrivium, or at least to explain more fully 
the causes for its neglect, but that task will not be attempted here. 
Of the seven liberal arts grammar and rhetoric alone are 
left, and they will constitute the main subjects of this investi- 
gation. On the face of it the quest seems barren enough, and 
indeed, we shall have to content ourselves with mere gleanings. 
Nevertheless the task will be worth while, for although the out- 
ward history of medieval universities as institutions is now very 
well known, we are still very far from comprehending the aim 
and object and general trend of the actual instruction which was 
given, and this is true especially of the arts course. In order to 
understand the revival of classical learning which was such an 

entirely to mathematics and astronomy but the venture did not succeed and thus 
not even mathematics ever rose to respectability at the great French university. 
(Giinther, Geschichte dcs mathematischen Unterrichts im deutschen Mittelalter, 
266; see also Thurot, Dc V Organisation de I'Enseignement dans VUniversite de 
Paris, 81.) 

"In the thirteenth century the Minorite School at Oxford was exceptional for 
the stress it laid on scientific as well as literary studies. Felder, Geschichte dec 
Wissenschaftlichen Studien im Fransiskanerorden, 417, 423-24. The university 
statutes of 1408 prescribed some mathematical books and in 1431 a candidate for 
?. degree was required to have read a considerable number of books in all the 
seven arts including the quadrivium (Munimenta Academica, ed. Anstey, 241, 
285. See also Rashdall, Universities, II, 455-458.) 

"Little is known about the quadrivium at Bologna in the twelfth and thir- 
teenth centuries ( Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bonaniensis Profes- 
soribus, I, 584.). In 1383 a master was appointed whose sole business it was to 
teach arithmetic. (Giinther, Geschichte des mathematischen Unterrichts, 220.) 
At Bologna, astrology was the name given to the whole scope of mathematical 
instruction. In 1405 a four years' course in arithmetic, geometry and astronomj 
was outlined which is remarkable for breadth and thoroughness (Malagola, 
Statuti delle Univcrsita c dci Collegi dello Studio Bolognese, 276. The program 
is explained by Rashdall, Universities, I, 249.). 

(499) 



10 

important factor of the Renaissance, it is absolutely necessary 
to know the history of the study of language and literature at 
medieval universities. Because of a lack of such understanding 
the revival of learning on the one hand and medieval culture on 
the other have often been sadly misinterpreted. 

We shall concentrate our attention upon the first two cen- 
turies of university history or very roughly to about 1350. The 
investigation will be almost wholly confined to the French uni- 
versities, especially Paris and Toulouse, and to Bologna in Italy. 
Oxford and Cambridge did not differ very much from Paris ami 
the first German universities were not founded until the middle 
of the fourteenth century. 

It is not possible to name and characterize briefly the books 
which have been used because a large number of them lie in fields 
other than history, such as philology, philosophy, law, literature 
and education. A critical bibliography is appended. 



(500) 



CHAPTER I. 
The Neglect op the Ancient Classics at Medieval Universities 

To a modern reader the arts course at medieval universities 
ran be interpreted to some extent by a discussion of the things ii 
did not contain. There was an entire lack of experimental sciences, 
of modern languages as well as history and the other so-called 
social sciences, but the most remarkable omission was that of the 
ancient classics, especially the Latin classics. 1 8ince Latin was 
the language used for instruction in all the schools, the reading of 
the classics would not have been so difficult as it is for us. Never- 
theless not one of them is prescribed iu the statutes of the various 
universities of Europe of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
The statutes furnish meagre information but all our other sources 
corroborate the well established truth that the ancient authors 
were almost entirely neglected at the medieval universities. 

This striking phenomenon has attracted much attention ever 
since the rise of humanism in the fourteenth century, in account 
ing for it many serious writers have entirely misinterpreted 
medieval culture and education. Until recently the books dis- 
missed the subject by dwelling upon the utter barrenness of classi- 
cal as well as of all other lay learning in the Middle Ages, and 
thus intimating that nothiug better could have been expected from 
the work at the universities. Today no competent scholar would 
pronounce such a verdict. It has become customary to speak of a 
"Twelfth Century Renaissance" 2 and it is now well established 

'In this paper ancient classics will be used as synonymous with Latin classics 
for throughout our period, Greek, although studied by individuals like Robert 
Grosseteste and Roger Bacon, was almost wholly unknown in the schools. For 
a short but convenient bibliography on Greek in the Middle Ages see Taylor, 
The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages, 361. Cf. also Sandys, A History of 
Classical Scholarship, I, passim; Norden, Die Antike Kunstprosa, II. 666 note; 
Babler, Beitrdge zur Gcschichte der lateinischen Grammatik im Mittelaltcr, 67-73; 
Loomis, Medieval Hellenism. 

""Medieval Renaissance" would be a better term because most of the move- 
ments which began in the eleventh and twelfth centuries did not culminate until 
the thirteenth century. 

(501) 



12 

that au important phase of this earlier Renaissance was a distinct 
revival of the ancient classics. It will serve our purpose to inves- 
t igate this movement in some detail. 

It is a well known fact that the ancient authors were not en- 
tirely forgotten at any time during the Middle Ages and that there 
were even periods of distinct revival as early as the time of Charle- 
magne and of the Ottos in Germany. These earlier movements, 
however, seem sporadic when compared with the revival in the 
twelfth century. Its home was northern France and our surest 
and most complete information in regard to it comes in shortly 
after the first crusade. "I see villages and towns fairly burn 
with eagerness in the study of grammar" writes (iuibert of Nogent 
in the preface to his history of the crusade. 3 In another passage 4 
he says that the remarkable enthusiasm for grammar had sprung 
up during his life-time, for he remembered the day when even 
in the cities hardly anyone could be found who in learning could 
be compared with a mere hedgepriest of modern times (moderni 
tcmporis.) 

The center of the study of the classics was Chartres. 5 As 
early as the beginning of the eleventh century its schools gained 
renown under the learned bishop Fulbert (d. 1020). Ivo (d. 1115) 
was his next great successor and he was followed in the first half 
of the twelfth century by Bernard, Gilbert de la Porree, and 
Theodoric. During the period from 1000, when Ivo became bishop, 
until 1150, the approximate date of Theodoric's death, the schools 
of Chartres were at the height of their glory. A famous program 
of studies, the Eptateuchon of Theodoric, reveals how the seven 
liberal arts had broadened and deepened into a very comprehen- 
sive course of instruction. Especial attention was given to gram- 
mar which was studied in the broad sense in accordance with the 

e "Et villas video, urbes, ac oppida studiis fervere grammatics." Gesta del 
per Francos in Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, Hist. Occidentaux, IV, 118; 
see also p. 120. Guibert died in 1124. 

'Rashdall, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, I, 32 and note 2. 

"Clerval, Les Ecoles de Chartres. Poole, Illustrations of the History of Med- 
ieval Thought, chs. IV and VII. 

'Clerval, Les Ecoles de Chartres, 222. 

(502) 



13 

definition of Babanus Maurus who called it "The art of explaining 
poets and historians, the art of correct speaking and. writing.'* 7 
In a word, Chartres was a truly humanistic center where flour- 
ished the belles lettres based on a sympathetic study of the ancient 
classics. Its fame attracted many students, especially the Eng- 
lish, of whom there was a regular colony. Chief among them was 
John of Salisbury, who has left us a glowing picture of the breadth 
and thoroughness of the humanistic teaching of his master Bern- 
ard. 8 John himself was an ardent admirer of Cicero. In bis en- 
Ihusiasm be exclaims, ''The Latin world produced no greater 
man than Cicero." 9 Nobody has ever studied John of Salisbury 
without associating him with Petrarch. 

After 1150, however, the schools of Chartres declined rapidly, 
because they were eclipsed by those of Paris. Thereafter Orleans 
became the most famous seat of classical learning. 10 We have less 
detailed knowledge about Orleans than about Chartres, but there 
is enough evidence to show that the humanists of Orleans were fa- 
mous until the middle of the thirteenth century. 

Meanwhile the universities were taking shape. The intellec- 
tual vigor of the twelfth century was finding its expression in 
these new splendid institutions of learning. We should expect 
(hat the classics would have had their share in the profit of this 
general mental uplift and that they would have found a still 
wider scope at the new universities especially at Paris which was 
in such close touch with Chartres and Orleans. But this was not 
to be, because that age developed other intellectual interests which 
crowded out the literary classical studies. All the greatest intel- 

'Specht, Geschichte des Unterrichtsivesens, 86. Rabanus Maurus (776-856) 
accepted Quintilian's (c. 35-95 A. D.) definition of grammar, "recte loquendi 
scientia, poetarum enarratio," De Iitstitutio Orat., I, c. IV. Cf. Heron, Oeuvres de 
Henri d'Andeli, p. Ixviii. 

s Metalogicus, I, 24. Cf. Clerval, p. 225, and Schaarschmidt, Johannes Sares- 
beriensis. 

"'Orbis nil habuit mains Cicerone Latinus." Entheticus, line 121 5. Migne, 
Palrologiae Lat., 199, 992. 

'"Delisle, "Les Ecoles d'Orleans au Douzieme et au Treizieme Siecle," in An- 
nvaire Bull, de la Soe. de I'Histoire de France, VII (1869), 139-154. 

(503) 



14 

lefts were bending their best efforts towards dialectic, scholastic 
philosophy and theology, or the practical studies of law and medi- 
cine. Probably a university could never have arisen on a purely 
humanistic basis. It required an Abelard and an lmerius to lay 
the foundations of universities. 

From the very start, therefore, the classics were overshadowed 
at these new institutions by more popular studies. Nevertheless, 
for a long time they still held their own. At about the beginning 
of the thirteenth century various writers associated Orleans with 
the great universities of the day. "Let Paris be proud of her logic 
and Orleans of her authors" wrote the poet Matthew of Vemlome 
who died about 1200." Two other writers, the poet Geoffrey de 
Vinsauf and the monk lielinaud inform us that as Salerno was 
known for medicine, Bologna for law, Paris for arts, so Orleans 
was famous for its study of the ancient authors. 12 The English- 
man Alexander Neckam (1157-1217), who spent much time at 
Paris, bestowed unstinted praise upon Orleans and its humanistic 
instruction. These are his words, "Parnassus itself cannot com- 
pare with thee, Orleans; the double summit of Parnassus yields to 
thee. I think that in no other city the songs of the Muses, 
watched over with so much zeal, are better interpreted." 13 Evi- 

""Parisius logicam sibi iactitet, Aurelianis Auctores : elegos Vindocinense 
solum." Poetical formulary, vv. 33-34, ed. Wattenhach, in Sitzungsberichte d. 
Bayrischen Akademie, 1872, II, 571. Quoted by Xorden, Die Antike Kuastprosa, 
II, 726. 

""In morbis sanat medici virtute Salernum 
Aegros. In causis Bononia legibus armat 
X udos. Parisius dispensat in artibus illos 
Panes, unde cibat robustos. Aurelianis 
Educat in cunis autorum lacte tenellos." 
Geoffrey de Vinsauf, Poetria nova, vv. 1009 ff. (addressed to Pope Innocent III, 
1198-1216). Quoted by Delisle, "Les Ecoles d'Orleans," 144. Ed. Leyser, Historia 
Poetarum, 920, vv. 1009-1013. 

"Ecce quaerunt clerici Parisiis artes liberales, Aurelianis auctores, Bononiae 
codices, Salerni pyxides, Toleti daemones et nusquam mores." Helinand. in a 
sermon before the students of the University of Toulouse in 1229. (Often 
quoted, e. g. Xorden, Die Antike Kunstprosa, II, 726.) 

l: '"Xon se Parnassus tibi conferat, Aurelianis, 
Parnassi vertex cedet uterque tibi . 
(504) 






15 

(lently these men believed that the classics would keep their rank 
among the prominent intellectual pursuits of that day and thai 
Orleans would be the seat of a university where humanistic studies 
would occupy the chief place in the curriculum. 14 

The study of the ancient authors was by no means confined 
lo ( Orleans. Even at Paris they still flourished towards the end of 
ihe twelfth century. The Welshman Gerald de Barri tells us that 
he studied and taught them there. 15 Sermons were still being 
preached before the students of Paris warning them against the 
dangers of the heathen literature of Rome. 16 Peter of I.lois wrote 
lo a professor at the university of Paris: "Priscian and Cicero, 
l.ucan and Persius, these are your gods." 17 An anonymous de- 
scriptive vocabulary of terms relating to the church, the court ami 
learning preserved in a manuscript in the library of Gonville and 
Cains College, Cambridge, seems to throw a flood of light on the 
classical studies at Paris just before the opening of the thirteenth 
century. 18 By means of a skillful examination of internal evi- 
dence. Professor Haskins has shown that in all probability the 

Carmina Pieridum, multo vigilata labore, 
Exponi nulla certius urbe reor." 
De laudibus divinae sapientiae, vv. 607-610, in De naturis rerum, ed. Wright, 
454- (Quoted by Delisle," "Les Ecoles d'Orleans." [46.) 

"The following translation of an extract from a student's letter taken from 
the Sum ma Magistri Guidonis (written probably at Orleans in the first half of the 
thirteenth century) will help to emphasize the fact that Orleans was known as 
a humanistic center : — "I have been a long time at Paris and I have learned from 
many testimonies that the knowledge of the authors redounds singularly to the 
honor of those who possess it. I have therefore come to Orleans with the in- 
tention of making some progress in this study, and I hope to succeed if I have the 
books." Delisle, ''Les Ecoles d'Orleans." 1+2. 

"Giraldus Cambrensis, Speculum Ecclesiae, Prooemium, ed. Brewer, IV. 3: 
/V Rebus a se Gestis. Ibid.. I, 23, 45. 

'"See below, p. 21. 

"Petri Blesensis, Opera Omnia, Migne, Patrologiae hat., 207, Epist. VI, p. 18. 

"Haskins. "A List of Text-books from the Close of the Twelfth Century." 
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XX (1909), 75-94. Professor llaskin^ 
has edited (pp. 90-94) the most significant portion of the manuscript, that which 
deals with the learning of the time. He cites the vocabulary by its opening wordsi 
Sacerdos ad altare accessurus. 

(505) 



16 

vocabulary was written by Alexander jN'eckam (1157-1217) who 
studied and taught at Paris many years between 1175 and 1195, 
and that for this and other reasons the picture which it gives of 
the learning of the day may with much probability be taken to 
reflect the work done at Paris. The most interesting portion of the 
vocabulary is a long list of books prescribed for every grade and 
subject of instruction : elementary work, the seven liberal arts and 
the higher branches of learning, medicine, law and theology. 
Along with the well known school books of the time, a very con- 
siderable number of classical authors are mentioned, such as 
' Statius, Virgil, Lucan, Juvenal, Horace, Ovid, Sallust, Cicero, 
Martial, Petronius, Symmachus, Suetonius, Livy and Seneca. Al- 
though we cannot affirm absolutely that the works of all these 
authors were regularly read at Paris, nevertheless this vocabulary 
clearly shows that about 1200 the study of the classics was still 
associated with the branches taught at the rising universities. 

Within the first half of the thirteenth century, however, inter- 
est in the classics waned rapidly. In 1234, John Garland, a pro- 
fessor of grammar at Pai'is, still warmly espoused the cause of Or- 
leans, but in the same breath he lamented that the ancient authors 
were being neglected. "Aid me," he writes, "illustrious poets, 
whom golden renown matches with gold, you whom the city of 
Orleans attracts from all the regions of the world, you, the glory 
of the fountain of Hippocrene. God has chosen you to sustain the 
edifice of eloquence shaken to its very foundations; for the Latin 
language is decaying, the green fields of the authors are withering 
and the jealous blast of Boreas has blighted the flowery mead- 
ows." 19 

19 "Vos vates magni quos aurea comparet auro 

Fama, favete mihi, quos Aurelianis ab urbe [sic] 

Orbe trahit toto, pegasei gloria fontis. 

Vos Deus elegit, per quos fundamina firma 

Astent eloquii studio succurrere, cujus 

Fundamenta labant : emarcet lingua latinn, 

Autorum vernans exaruit area, pratum 

Florigerum boreas flatu livente perussit." 
Ars Icctoria ecclesicie (Accentarius), Bruges MS. 456. fol. 76 v°. This extract is 
also printed in Scheler, Lcxicographie Latine du Xlle et du XIIIc Steele, 9. 

(506) 



17 

John Garland deserves to be rescued from obscurity. He 
was the last humanist or would-be humanist at the University of 
Paris in the thirteenth century. An Englishman by birth, he came 
to Paris, where he studied and taught until the great dispersion of 
the university in 1229. Then he went to Toulouse to become a 
professor of grammar at the newly founded university. Dissatis- 
fied with conditions there, he returned to Paris in 1232 and taught 
grammar until his death which probably occurred shortly after 
1252. 20 He was a voluminous writer. A large number of his 
works are grammatical treatises. Most of them are still unpub- 
lished and have never been examined critically. Even a hasty per- 
usual of his writings will satisfy anybody that he had little of 
the humanistic spirit which characterized John of Salisbury 
or Peter of Blois. In all probability he was but slightly ac- 
quainted with the ancient classics. Nevertheless he cham- 
pioned them as we have seen from the above quotation. 
In another work, the Morale Scholarium, written about 1240, 21 

20 For accounts of his life and works see, Haureau, "Notices sur les oeuvres 
authentique ou supposees de Jean de Garlande," in Notices et Extrails, XXVII, 
pt. 2, 1-86 (1877) ; Wright (ed), De Triumphis Ecclesiae, Preface, (Roxburghe 
Club, 1856) ; Gatien-Arnoult, "Jean de Garlande," Revue de Toulouse, 23, (1866), 
117 ff ; article in Dictionary of National Biography ; Sandys, History of Classical 
Scholarship, I, 549 ff . ; Reichling, Das Doctrinale, passim, see Register, p. cxiii ; 
Haskins, "A List of Text-books from the Close of the Twelfth Century," in Har- 
vard Studies in Classical Philology, XX (1909), 76-78; Habel, "Johannes de Gar- 
landia," in Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft fur deutsche Erziehungsgeschichte , 1909. 

"'Bruges MS. 546, fol. 2 seq. ; Gonville and Caius, Cambridge MS. 385, pp. 
302-316. Professor Haskins of Harvard has found a third manuscript copy of the 
Morale Scholariuiu, Bodleian MS. Rawlinson G. 96, pp. 154-176, which I have not 
consulted. This work was written between 1238 and 1244. In it Odo is ad- 
dressed as chancellor; Bruges MS. 546, fol. 6 v° ; Gonville and Caius MS. 385, p. 
312. Odo de Castro Radulphi (Eudes de Chateau roux) was chancellor of Notre 
Dame 1238-1244; Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium Universitatis Parisicnsis, I, 
xx, note. The above date is rendered more certain by the fact that on the folio 
and page just referred to, there is a reference to a riot in Orleans in which several 
students were killed. Matthew Paris tells us that such a riot took place at Or- 
leans in 1236; see Denifle, Die Universitaten, I, 251, note 135; 260-261; 758, note 
19. Denifle's conjecture that 1236 should be 1241-42 is wrong; see Rashdall, The 
Universities of Europe, II, 141, note 1. Professor Haskins has called my atten- 

(507; 



18 

lie again praised them and condemned such works as aimed at be- 
littling' Helicon,-- "Where the authors flourish," he says, probably 
having Orleans in mind, "the doctors profit by it and their writ- 
ings are much improved."-" He singles out a certain (Jalfridus- 1 
and a certain Galterus 25 for high praise as poets, calling the latter 
an athlete of Pallas, in name and in drm\ a poet. 2 " Then 
he pleads for reform, the evil tendencies of the times should he 
checked while there is still time for it. He even suggests that a 
law should be passed to re-establish the ancient classics. 27 Paris, 
however, was already too firmly attached to philosophy and the- 
ology to heed the advice of a pedantic grammarian like John (Jar- 
land. 2 " 

tion to the fact that the Morale Scholarium is mentioned in another work of John 
Garland, the Commentaries Curialium (Bruges MS. 546, fol. 83; Gonville and 
Cains MS. 385, p. 209), which was written in 1246. 

"""Xcc sunt scripta bona que diminuunt elicona," Bruges MS. 546, fol. 6 v° ; 
Gonville and Cains MS. 385, p. 209. The works he criticized were those of Alex- 
ander of Villedieu and Eberhard of Bethune. 

^"Florent auctores et ah illis floridiores 
Fiunt doctores et lettris (sic) utiliores." 
Ibid. Denirle. Die Universitaten, I, 758, note 19, lias seen these line and thinks 
they refer to Orleans, which is very probable. 

"'This may refer to Geoffrey de Vinsauf, the author of the Poetria Nova dedi- 
cated to Pope Innocent III. 

'"A gloss says "Anglicus magister." Is this 'Walter the Englishman' mentioned 
by llervieux, Les Fabulistes Latins, I, 452? 

J ""Palladis atleta stat nomine reque poeta." Ibid. 
""'Hie emendetur error dum tempus habetur 
Lex talis detur id quod cecidit revocetur." 
Ibid. A gloss on the last of these lines in the Gonville and Cains MS. explains, 
"ut antiqui libri." 

!S He himself had waxed enthusiastic in his praises of Paris where everything 
that Athens. Aristotle, Plato and Galen had handed down was taught and espe- 
cially the sacred scriptures. Note that he here forgets to lament the absence of the 
classics : 

"Parisius superis gaudens tamquam paradisus 
Philosophos alit egregios, ubi quicquid Athena?. 
Quicquid Aristoteles, quicquid Plato vel Galienus 
Ediderant, legitur; ubi pascit pagina sacra 
Subfiles animas celesti pane refectas." 
.■Irs lectoria ecclesiae (Acccntarius), Bruges MS. 546, fol. 77 r, O234). 

(DOS) 



10 

His was the last plea for the classics which came from the 
walls of the great university of Paris. By the middle of the thir- 
teenth century the ancient authors had entirely lost the day. This 
is very clear from the famous French allegorical poem entitled the 
Battle of the Seven Arts, written about 1250 by the trouvere 
Henri d'Andeli. 29 Grammar, the champion of Orleans, supported 
by the humanists and the classic authors, goes out to battle 
against Logic of Paris who lias gathered under her banner all the 
books and studies taught at that university. After a spirited en- 
gagement, Grammar is defeated and the Muse of Poetry goes into 
hiding. The author of the poem concludes with the optimistic re- 
flection that the next generation would surely sec the futility of 
logic and return to the study of classical belles lettres. His hopes 
were not to be realized. At the beginning of the fourteenth cen- 
tury eveu Orleans had forsaken them and was known only as the 
seat of a famous university of law. When Petrarch was a buy, the 
few students of arts who still studied at Orleans apparently had 
forgotten the ancient poets, and were lost in the "labyrinth of 
Aristotle." 30 

"Heron. Oeuvres de Henri d'Andeli. For references to other editions ami ab- 
stracts of this poem see Sandys, ./ History of Classical Scholarship, 1. 077. note 
4. See also Andeli, La Qucrellc des Anciens et des Modemes on XHIe Siecle on 
la Bataille des I'll Arts, Paris, 1875, a reprint from Jubinal, Oeuvres de Rutebeuf. 

""Denifle, Die Entstehung der Universit'dten des Mittelalters, I. 252, 262. 
Rashdall, Universities of Europe, IT. pt. 1. 147, 144. note 1. Rashdall maintains 
that there was no regular faculty of arts at the University of Orleans "after the 
decay of the literary schools in the thirteenth century." This is contradicted by the 
following evidence. Fournier, Histoire de la Science du Droit, 65, has pointed out 
that there is a mention of the study of grammar and logic at Orleans in Dec. 
1,312 (Fournier, Statuts. I. 40. No. 40.). Another royal ordinance dated July. 1312, 
also speaks of the liberal arts at Orleans (Fournier, Statuts. I. ,37. No. 37. ). A 
formulary of Treguier ( c. 1313-1316) proves beyond all doubt that the arts were 
taught at the university at that time. Several letters in it mention Orleans as a 
Studiuin for literary studies. Grammar is named and at least three of the letters 
refer to the "labyrinth of Aristotle," which goes to show that dialectic flourished 
here as in all the rest of northern France. Whether the classics were still read 
as in the thirteenth century is somewhat doubtful. One letter, however. (No. Til, 
Appendix) appeals to the "shining authority of the poets" (poetarum auctoritate 
lucida) ; Delisle. Lc Formulairc de Treguier. Seven of the letters referring to the 

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20 

We are now ready to consider more specifically the causes 
for the neglect of the classics at the universities. All too often 
the whole blame for it has been laid at the door of scholasticism, 
that magic term which has been used to explain such a multitude 
of sins. The explanation is not quite so simple. Many causes 
combined to bring about the decline. They will be considered un- 
der the followiug beads: (1) Strict clerical feeling against pro- 
fane and, in particular, indecent profane literature; (2) Popu- 
larity in the schools of good medieval Latin literature; (3) Re- 
newed interest in science; (4) Rise of the lucrative studies of 
medicine and law ( including the ars dicta minis) ; (5) Increasing 
popularity of logic which led to scholastic philosophy and theology. 

(1) Strict clerical feeling against profane literature. In the 
twelfth and thirteenth, as well as in all previous centuries of the 
Middle Ages, there cropped out again and again a strong clerical 
feeling against the classics, decrying them as useless and danger 
ous heathen products. The denunciations came from both the 
regular and the secular clergy. Thus Peter Comestor, who was 
chancellor of Notre Dame of Paris after 1164, preached that the 
arts are useful in so far as they help in the study of the Scriptures, 
but we must avoid the figments of the poets which are like the 
croaking of frogs. 31 Stories which recall that about, Odo of Cluny 
who dreamed of Virgil as a beautiful vase full of vipers were still 
told about men in the twelfth century. Frederick, an abbot of a 
Frisian monastery (c. 1170) dearly loved his Persius, Juvenal. 
Virgil, Horace and Ovid in the days of his youth, but when he 
grew older he devoted himself wholly to the study and teaching of 
the Scriptures. 32 

University of Orleans are also printed by Fournier, Les Statuts, III, 448-9, No. 
1869. See also Cuissard, L'Etudc du Grec a Orleans depuis le IXc siecle, 5. 

Delisle has called attention to a letter from a formulary of the early four- 
teenth century, in which a student of Orleans warns a friend not to come there 
to study the branches of the trivium, which, he says, are badly taught. This would 
point to a decline of the arts at Orleans at that time. The letter is printed by 
Haskins, "Life of Medieval Students," .-liner. Hist. Rev., Ill, 222, note 3. 

"Denifle, Die Entstehung der Universitaten, I, 684. 

**Mon. Germ. Hist. SS. XXIII. 583. Quoted by Michael. Culturzustande des 
deutsehen Tolkes, II, 354. 

(510) 



21 

Nothing is more interesting in this connection than one of the 
illustrations of the Hortus Deliciarum designed by the abbess Her- 
rad of Landsperg for the edification of the nuns of Mont St. Odile 
in Alsace (1167-95). The picture is an allegorical representation 
of philosophy and the seven liberal arts which are recommended 
as having been invented by the Holy Spirit. Below these are four 
seated figures who are writing under the inspiration of little black 
demons. The inscription reads, "These are poets or Magi, in- 
spired by the unclean spirit." 33 

Alexander of Villedieu, a master at the University of Paris, 
strongly voiced the clerical opposition in this direct attack upon 
the humanists of Orleans (1199-1202), "Orleans teaches us to sac- 
rifice to the gods, pointing out the festivals of Faunus, of .Jove, and 
of Bacchus. This is the pestiferous chair of learning, in which, 
according to the testimony of David, sits no holy man avoiding the 
baleful doctrine, which, as in Orleans, is like a disease spreading 
contagion among the multitude. Nothing should be read which is 
contrary to the Scriptures." 34 

The following is a similar, although milder protest made by 
Jacques de Vitry Id. 1240) in a sermon before the students of the 
University of Paris : "In spite of the value of the art of eloquence 
which we derive from the poets, properly called authors (auc- 
tores), it is better to choose for our instruction those works which 
contain moral teaching, such as those of Cato, Theodulus, Avianus, 

""Poete vol Magi, spiritu immundo instincti." The inscription continues, "Isti 
immundis spiritibus inspirati scribunt artem magicam et poetriam i. e. fabulosa 
commenta." This picture is reproduced in Sandys. ./ History of Classical Scholar- 
ship, I, 559; Steinhausen, Geschichte der Deutschen Kultur. 279; and Cubberley, 
Syllabus on the History of Education, 86. 

34 "Sacrificare deis nos edocet Aurelianis 
Indicens festum Fauni lovis atque Liei. 
Hec est pestifera, David testante, cathedra. 
In qua non sedit vir sanctus, perniciosam 
Doctrinam fugiens, que. sicut habetur ibidem, 
Est quasi difrundens multis contagia morbus. 
Non decet ilia legi que sunt contraria legi." 
Ecclessiale, Prologue. Bibl. Xat. MS. Pat. T4027, fol. 104- This portion of the pro- 
logue is printed by Thurot, Notices ct Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 115. 

(511) 



22 

Prudentius, Prosper, Sedulius and above all the versified bible. 

Do not books of this kind suffice without turning to the historians 
and the poets for excitations which lead to debauch and vanity? 
Isidore tells us that it is not only in offering incense that we 
sacrifice to the demons but also in searching with eagerness the 
pagan fables and maxims; above all, his words apply to those 
who allow themselves to be drawn to such studies by pleasure or 
( uriosity. Men of experience may cull from them some good 
thoughts and wise maxims, as gold may be found in the mud. . . . 
Hal human life is already too short for him who confines himself 
to such learning as may be acquired without danger."' 1 "' Sermons 
often fall on deaf ears, but, as we shall see, the minds of those 
students of Paris had already been molded by various other in- 
fluences so that it was easy for them to do for once as their preach- 
er bade them. 36 

Time and time again protests also arose against the positively 
indecent literature of Rome. Throughout the Middle Ages there 
had been complaints on this score. Some men, like Rabanus 
Maurus, had been satisfied with a thorough purgation of all such 
works; others, on this account, were led to denounce pagan liter- 
ature of every description. ST There is enough evidence to show that 
the evil often was very real in the medieval schools. 38 Some of 
the best disciples of the famous schools of Chartres, notably Peter 
of Rlois (d. 1204), seriously injured the cause of the classics by 
writing light and scurrilous verses which the moralists of the age 
pointed to as the result of familiarity with the Roman poets.™ 
Even in the anoymous vocabulary, Sacerclos ml altare, de- 
scribed above, which so warmly recommends such a long list of 

'Sri-uio coram scolaribus. Rib. Xat. MS. Lat. 17509, f<>s. 31, .?-'. This quota- 
tion is a translation from the rendering by Lecoy de la Marche. La Chaire Fran- 
raise an Moyen Age, 474-475. 

'°Cf. Thurot, Notices et Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 116 and note 2, for a few more 
examples of opposition of this kind. For the interesting views of a modern 
Roman Catholic theologian on the classics in the Middle Ages see Michael, Cultur- 
zust'dnde des deutschen Volkes, III, 31S-319. 

"Specht, Geschichte des Unterrichtswesens, 49-51. 

ss Thnn.t, Notices ct Extraits, XXTT, pt. 2, 112. 

3 "Clerval, Lcs Ecolcs de Charlies, 315-317. 

(512) 



23 

Roman writers, a note of warning is sounded not to let the youths 
gather those flowers of literature among which a serpent lies 
hidden. 4 " Henri d'Andeli in his Battle of the Keren Arts confessed 
that the cause of the authors would have been stronger if it were 
not for the questionable fables taught in connection with them. 41 
One of the reasons why Alexander of Villedieu wrote his famous 
grammar called the Doctrmale was to check the tendency to read 
objectionable literature in the schools. He directly attacked the 
elegies of Maximianus (about 600 A. D.) 42 and hoped that his new 
grammar, with its copious illustrative material, would drive the 
harmful trifles of Maximianus out of the school-rooms. 4:i 

(2) Popularity of good medieval Latin literature. Especial- 
ly in the twelfth century a good deal of excellent Latin literature 
was written which deservedly became popular. Just as the pagan 
poets were often crowded out of the schools by the early Christian 
poets such as Prudentius and Sedulius, so now the works of mod- 
ern authors frequently displaced the classics or at least were read 

""'Placuit tamen viris autenticis carmina amatoria cum satiris subducenda esse 
a manibus adolescentium, ac si eis dicitur, 

Qui legitis flores et humi nascencia fraga, 
frigidus, o pueri, fugite hinc, latet anguis in herba." 
Gonville and Cains. Cambridge MS. 385, p. 48. Now printed by Haskjns in Harvard 
Studies in Classical Philology, XX, 91. 

""Lor chastiaus fust bien deffensables, 
S'il ne fust si garnis de fables 
Qu'il ajoingnent lor vanitez 
Par lor biaus mos en veritez." 
vv. 254-257, Heron, Oeuvrcs de Henri d'Andeli, 52. 

"For Maximianus and his writings see Teuffel and Schwabe, History of Ro- 
man Literature, II, 550. The most recent edition with full bibliography is that 
by Webster, The Elegies of Maximianus. Haase, De inedii acvi studiis philologicis, 
20-24, thinks that works of this kind were tolerated because they were explained 
allegorically ; see Michael, Culturziistande, III, 286, note 3. 
""Quamvis haec non sit doctrina satis generalis 
Proderit ipsa tamen plus nugis Maximiani." 
Doetrinale, Proeiiiiuiu. vv. 24-25. 

Alexander thus speaks of Maximianus : 
"lamque legent pueri pro nugis Maximiani 
Quae veteres sociis nolebant pandere caris." 
Ibid., vv. 3-4. Reichling, Das Doetrinale, Einleitung, xxxvii. 

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24 

side by side with them. 44 These were written in a style that resem- 
bled the spoken Latin current at the time and some of tliem had 
distinct literary value. 

Among them, the most renowned was the Alexandreis of 
Gautier de Lille (written 1170-1179), an epic poem of 5,464 hexa- 
meters recounting the deeds of Alexander the Great. 43 In most 
respects the poem is superior to the productions of its time. The 
style is good, the rules of prosody and metric are generally ob- 
served. The author reveals his acquaintance with Virgil, Lucan, 
Statius and Claudian. There is a wealth of allegory, with queer 
mingling of Christian and pagan elements but there is likewise 
much good imagery. The poem at once became popular. This is 
uttested by the large number of manuscripts which have come 
down to us. 40 In the thirteenth century it was used widely in the 
schools. Henry of Ghent (d. 1295) wrote that in his day the 
Alexandreis was read to such an extent that on its account the 
{indent poets were neglected. 47 In the fourteenth century it was 
still read in some universities of southern France. 48 

The Tobias of Matthew of Vendome (d. c. 1200) was another 
Latin epic poem popular as a school-book. It consists of 2,200 
elegiac verses relating the history of the two biblical Tobits, 
father and son, and their wives, with many digressions and fre- 
quent prayers put into the mouths of the characters. 40 This was 
neither as skillfully written nor was it as popular as the Alexan- 
dreis. In the Battle of the Seven Arts both these books are men- 

"Thurot, Notices ct Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 113. 

""The best biography of Gautier is by Roerseh. in Biographie Nationale de Bcl- 
yiquc (1880-83), VII. 514. 

"Reusens, Elements de Paleographie, 230-31, gives a facsimile of a page of 
the Alexandreis with glosses dating from the end of the thirteenth century. The 
glosses probably indicate that it was used as a school-book. 

""Scripsit [Gautier] gesta Alexandri Magni eleganti metro. Qui liber in 
scholis grammaticorum tantae dignitatis est hodie, ut prae ipso veterum poetarum 
lectio negligatur." De scriptoribus ecclesiasticis, cap. 20. See Meier, Die Sicbcn 
Frcien Kiinste, 29. 

"See below, p. 55. 

"Grober, Grundriss, II, pt. I. 394, and Histoire Litteraire tie la France, XV. 424; 
XXII, 55-67. 

(514) 



25 

tioned together with the ancient classics. 50 The Tobias was pre- 
scribed at the University of Perpignan in the fourteenth century. 51 

A good deal of excellent literature in the vernacular was also 
produced at this time, especially in France, but since none of it 
was ever admitted into the schools, where Latin alone prevailed, 
its rivalry with the classics is hard to trace. 52 

(3) Renewed interest in science. The thirteenth century 
was distinctly an era of science. Contact with the East in general 
and the Mohammedans in particular, brought about especially by 
the Crusades, had quickened scientific interests in the West. 
Towards the end of the twelfth century the books of Aristotle on 
natural philosophy were introduced into Western Europe and 
became an important stimulus to scientific study and investiga- 
tion. At Chartres, the quadrivium as well as the trivium was 
broadening out into a comprehensive course of study as may be 
learned from the famous Eptateuchon, which we have had oc- 
casion to mention before. 53 During the first half of the thirteenth 
century the branches of the quadrivium were still fairly popular. 
Jacques de Vitry preached against them as vain learning in the 
same sermon in which he denounced the classics. 54 Scholars dis- 
satisfied with the instruction in the sciences in Western Christen- 
dom travelled abroad to study. Towards the end of the twelfth 
century the Englishman Daniel de Morlai went to Spain to learn 
science from the famous Arab teachers at Toledo. 55 The scientific 

Tines 285 and 287. The Alexandreis is here referred to by its opening words. 
Gesta ducis Macedum; Heron, Ocuvrcs de Henri d'Andcli, 53. See also notes on 
page 164-167 of Heron. Here two other popular poems of the day are described, 
the Arehithrenius of Jean de Hauteville and the Aurora or versified bible of Peter 
Riga, both of which are mentioned in the Battle of the Seven Arts, lines 283, 288; 
also a poem of Alain de Lille, the Anti-Claudianus (ed. by Wright, Satirical Poets, 
II, 268-428). 

'"''See below, p. 54. 

M It is interesting to note that about 1200 a certain Guillaume le clerc of Nor- 
mandy put the books of Tobit into French verse. Grober, Grundriss. II, pt. I, 656. 

M Clerval, Les Ecoles de Chartres, 223. 

"Sermo coram scolaribus. Quoted by Denifle. Die Universitaten, I, 100. 

"'Gasquet, "English Scholarship in the Thirteenth Century," Dublin Review, 
I2 3i 359- See also Rashdali, Universities in the Middle Ages, I, 242, }2^, and II, 

(515) 



26 

I rend of the ;ige may be seen in the works of Alexander Neckain 
and Albert the Great, but above all in those of Roger Bacon, the 
advocate of experimental science and in many ways the most re- 
markable man of the thirteenth century." 1 '' There must have been 
many minor lights in science like that Peter of Maricourt whom 
Roger Bacon met at Paris and whom he described as a true ex- 
perimental scientist. 57 Unfortunately, this scientific movement 
did not bear much fruit in the work of medieval universities, but 
while it was in its vigor it helped to detract interest from classic 
literature. 58 

(4 1 Rise of the lucrative studies of medicine and law (in- 
cluding the ars dictaminis). Medicine and law as practical 

338, n. 3. Caesar of Heisterbach (1222) in his Dialogus miracv.lorv.xa says that 
wuing people in order to learn Nigromantia usually go to Toledo. Gunther, 
Geschichte des mathematischen Unterrichts, 203, n. 2. 

"For Roger Bacon and the scientific movement of the thirteenth century in 
general see especially Bridges, The Opus Majus of Roger Bacon; Brewer,*/ 7 /'. 
Bacon Opera: Charles. Roger Bacon; Pouchet, Histoire des Sciences Naturelles on 
Moyen Age; Allbutt, Science and Medieval Thought; Gasquet. "English Scholar- 
ship in the Thirteenth Century." Dublin Review, 123, 356; Parrott, Roger Bacon; 
Le Clerc, Histoire Littcrairc de la Prance, XX, 227-252; Felder, Geschichte dcr 
Wissenschaftlichen Studicn im Framiskanerorden, see index and foot-notes for 
bibliography; Xarbey, "Le Moine Roger Bacon et le Mouvement Scientitique au 
XII Te Siecle." in Rev. des Questions Historiques. XXXV, 1 15-165; Lalande, "His- 
toire des Sciences. La Physique du Moyen Age," in Rev. de Synthase Historique, 
VII, 191-218; see foot-notes for bibliography. 

"Rogeri Baconis, Opus Tertium, cap. xiii, ed. Brewer, 43. 

"Gasquet. "English Scholarship." Dublin Review, 123, 373, writes: "Now with- 
out any doubt at all, the spirit of the thirteenth century was essentially scientific. 
. . . But this great characteristic of the thirteenth century was purchased at .1 
price. Looking back to the previous age and comparing the twelfth and thirteenth 
centuries, we can hardly fail to see that the price paid was the sacrifice of literature 
in its highest and truest sense; a great price indeed for after all it must be re- 
membered that literature is the supreme and fullest expression of all the highest 
powers of man. We have onlj to look, for example, at the writings of John of 
Salisbury and Peter of Blois and set them by the side of those — say of Albert the 
Great, or Alexander of Hales — to see that the former are really classical in thought 
and expression as compared with the latter." 

X T o doubt there is a grain of truth in this statement, hut to account for the 
decline of belles lettres solely by the great interest in science is a very narrow 
view of this important intellectual movement. 

(516) 



27 

studies rose to such importance that they became the foundation 
stones of many large universities. Indeed, civil or canon law, or 

both, were taught at all medieval universities whereas not even 
one-half of them had a faculty of theology.' 1 ' These branches 
exercised great attraction by the prospect of pecuniary gain which 
they held out to students. Hence in their eagerness to study 
law or medicine they not only neglected the ancient authors but 
often failed to acquire the necessary elements of grammar. 

The Battle of the Seven Liberal Arts speaks of the physicians 
and the chirurgeons of Paris as enemies of the good old authors.''" 
The competition of law with the classics is especially apparent, 
even at Paris where law was never of paramount importance. 
Gerald de l.arri, who studied and taught at Paris in his youth, 
in his old age (after ll'OO I lamented the craze for law as one 
of the most serious causes for the neglect of letters. "Some," 
lie says (quoting Radulphus Pelvaceusis), "are so superficial, 
that, throwing aside literature, the works of poets, namely of 
[classical] authors, and those of philosophers, presume to ad- 
vance from the very rudiments of the arts, that is, from Donatus 
and Cato, immediately to law, not only to the civil but even to ca- 
non law." 63 He recalls that once he heard a certain professor at 
Paris proclaim before a multitude of students that the evil days 
had come which the sibyl had foretold in her prophecy, "The 
days will come, woe to them, when law will obliterate the study 
of letters."" 2 If such was the effect of law on literary studies at 

"Denifle, Die Universitdten, I, 696, 703. 

e °vv. 99-129, Heron, Ocuvres de Henri d'Andeli, 46. 

""Alii superseminati, qui et superficiales dici possunt, qui, praetermissa litera- 
tura, poetarum scilicet auctorum, philosophorum, et artiuni fundamento, statim a 
Donato et Catone [a primary latin reader] ad leges non solum humanas, sed etiam 
divinas, se transfere praesumunt." Giraldus Cambrensis, Gemma Ecclesiastica, cap 
XXXVII (De literaturae defectu ex legum humanarum et loyices alnisu proven- 
iente), ed. Brewer, II, 348-49. 

62 "Causam tanti defectus huius et tam generalis hanc esse noveritis, quod liter 
aturae radicem et fundamentum eatenus inconcussum leges imperiales in regnis oq 
ciduis jam propemodum, immo praeter modum, hodie suffocarunt. Tempus enim 
de quo Sibyllae vaticinium olim mentionem fecit (quod magistrum Menervium, 

(517) 



Paris 01 what must it have been at the great law university, Bo- 
logna ! The absence of the classics at that famous Italian uni- 
versity during the thirteenth century must in the first instance 
be attributed to the overwhelming importance of law. We have 
already seen how Orleans, renowned for classics in the first half 
of the thirteenth century, in the fourteenth was known only for 
law. 

Closely related to law, although not a part of it, was another 
competitor of the ancient classics, namely the ars dicta minis 
or the art of writing letters and formal documents, which will be 
dealt with fully in the third chapter. This too was a lucrative 
study since it prepared its votaries for positions in the chanceries 
of church and state. At Bologna it gradually usurped almost 
the whole field of the arts. In France also it became very pop- 

principalem Petri Abulardi discipulum et rhetorem incomparabilem, eximium in 
auditorio suo, Parisiis coram multitudine scholarium recitantem audivimus et plang- 
entem, damnisque futuris valde compatientem), iam advenit, erat autem vaticinium 
tale: 'Venient dies, vae illis, quibus leges obliterabunt scientiam literarum.' " 
Speculum Ecclesiae, Prooemium, ed. Brewer, IV, 7. This passage was partly re- 
stored from the quotation of it made by A. Wood, Antiq. Univer. Oxon., p. 54. The 
Speculum was written c. 1220. This prophecy of the Sibyl, Giraldus had referred 
to before in his Gemma, ed. Brewer, II, 349, "Episcopus autem ille, de quo nunc 
ultimo locuti sumus [Radulphus Belvacensis] inter superficiales numerari potuit, 
cujusmodi hodie multos novimus propter leges Justinianas, quae literaturam, urgente 
cupiditatis et ambitionis incommodo, adeo in multis jam suffocarunt, quod magis- 
trum Mainerium (sic) in auditorio scholae suae Parisius dicentem, et damna sui 
temporis plangentem, audivi, vaticinium illud Sibillae vere nostris diebus esse com- 
pletum, hoc scilicet : 'Venient dies, et vae illis, quibus leges obliterabunt scientiam 
literarum.' " 

See also Langlois, Questions d'Histoire et d'Enseignemenf, 16. 

"In the Battle of the Seven Arts both civil and canon law rode proudly on 
horseback thus showing their superiority over the arts : 
"La Loi chevaucha richement 
Et Decret orguilleusement 
Sor trestoutes les autres ars," 
vv. 65-68, Heron, Oeuvres de Henri d'Ande/i, 45. 

The study of civil law was prohibited at Paris in 1219 by Pope Honorius III 
(Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 92), but it is not probable that this prohibi- 
tion was ever obeyed absolutely. The above lines would argue that civil law was 
flourishing at Paris about 1250 when this poem was written. 

(518) 



29 

alar. In a model letter, which comes from the diocese of Or- 
leans, one student advises another to abandon the profitless and 
even harmful pursuit of poetry and to hasten to take up the ars 
dictaminis which holds out such fair prospects of worldly suc- 
cess. 04 Another letter tells how a student intends to turn even 
from theology temporarily in order to pursue the popular ars 
ilictaminis. Ponce de Provence, a famous itinerant professor of 
the art, came to Orleans about 1250 promising his students that 
he would pass by the fables of the authors and lead them directly 
to that pearl of knowledge, the ars dicta minis. 05 

(5) Increasing popularity of logic which led to scholastic 
philosophy and theology. After all, however, the most important 
cause of the decline of the classics and of purely literary pursuits 
generally, was the rise of dialectics to undisputed eminence 
among the arts. This is true especially because the reign of 
Aristotle became most absolute in northern France where the 
humanistic tendencies had been strongest. 

At first there was no active antagonism between dialectics 
and the authors. Abelard himeslf had a high regard for the achieve- 
ments of classical times and probably first awakened in his fa- 
mous pupil, John of Salisbury, a due sense of the importance of 
ancient literature. 00 But the interest in speculative thinking 
became too absorbing to allow the study of the anthors to remain 
important. By gradual stages it simply monopolized the field of 

""Amico suo carissimo, C, dilectus et compatriota suus, B., magis utilibus 
minus utilia posthabere. Vir discretus honesta sequitur et ea maxime que majorem 
fructum prestare debeant et honorem. Quos ducit mollicies etatis insipide et 
infelix lascivia, theatrales, se conferunt ad meretriculas et cum molli versiculo 
nimisque tenero pruritus generant auditori cuilibet. . . . Vero enim vero qui dictandi 
secuntur scientiam, ad reges veniunt et prelatis ecclesie traduntur a regibus. ad 
honores ecclesiasticos interventus sui potentia promovendi." Valois, De Arte Scri- 
bendi Epistolas, 25-26. 

""Incipiunt dictamina magistri Poncii. Universis scolaribus qui decorari 
cupiunt epistolaris dictaminis scientia gloriosa P. Magister in dictamine salutem et 
neglectis actorum fabulis ad margaritam dictaminis properare." Thurot, Notices et 
Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 39. 

"Schaarschmidt, Johannes Saresberiensis, 64, 82. 

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30 

Hie arts in the north of Europe and the classical literary tenden- 
cies of Chartres and Orleans died a death of sheer starvation. 

The change, however, did not take place without strong pro- 
tests from many sides. Examples of such protests might be mul- 
tiplied almost endlessly. The works of John of Salisbury are 
full of sane and vigorous denunciations of the foolish warfare of 
mere words without a previous foundation in real learning. He 
was not a humanist to the extent that he roundly condemned 
scholastic philosophy. Far from it, for he spent most of his life 
in just such dialectical and theological pursuits as engaged his 
great master Abelard. What distinguished him from most of his 
contemporaries was that throughout his career he maintained 
I hat a thorough acquaintance with the liberal arts, including the 
(lassies, was absolutely necessary as a basis for higher learning. 1,7 
He therefore lamented that students praised only Aristotle and 
despised Cicero. 68 Nevertheless he was still hopeful and be- 
lieved firmly that he could convince his contemporaries of the 
value of literary studies. 89 

Next to John of Salisbury, Peter of Blois was the best rep- 
resentative of the humanistic tendency in education during the 
twelfth century. In many of his letters he championed the cause 
of a broad training in grammar and the authors as a preparation 

""Nam sicut gladius Herculis in manu Pygmaei, ant pumilionis, ineffax est; et 
idem in manu Achillis aut Hectoris, ad modum f ulminis universa prosternit ; sic 
dialectics, si aliarum disciplinarum vigore destituatur, quodammodo manca est et 
inutilis fere." Metalogicus, lib. II, cap. IX, Migne, Patrologiae hat., 199, 866. 
M "Ut juvenis discat plurima, pauca legat, 

Laudet Aristotelem solum, spernit Ciceronem 

Et quicquid Latiis Graecia capta dedit, 

Conspuit in leges, vilescit physica, quaevis 

Littera sordescit, logica sola placet. u. 

Non tamen ista placet, ut earn quis scire laboret, 

Si quis credatur logicus, hoc satis est." 
"For numerous other examples from the works of John of Salisbury see, 
Schaarschmidt, Johannes Saresberiensis ; Clerval, Les Ecoles de Chartres; Poole, 
Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought, ch. VII; Krey, "John of Sali^ 
bury's Attitude Towards the Classics." 

(520) 



31 

for dialectic and theology. Writing to the archdeacon of Nantes 
(c. 1160) concerning the education of his two nephews, Peter 
says, "You say that William has a quicker and sharper miud, be- 
cause, having neglected the study of grammar and the authors, he 
flew to the cunning of the logicians where he learned dialectic 
not as lie should have done, in books, but in tablets and note- 
books. In such is not the foundation of learning and the subtlety 
which you praise is harmful to many."' 7 " John of Hauteville. 
writing in the second half of the twelfth century, complained that 
many passed as wise men at Paris, who, when they had just 
lasted wisdom, thought they had exhausted it and swelled with 
pride because of this little learning. 71 In a lugubrious letter to 
the Pope, the pessimistic Stephen, bishop of Tournay, thus com- 
plained about the decline of liberal studies: "Beardless youths 
sit in the chairs of the old professors and they who are scarcely 
pupils are anxious to be called masters. . . . Neglecting the rules 
of the arts and discarding the books of good authority, with their 
sophistications they catch flies of senseless verbiage as in the 
webs of spiders." 72 In his book "On the Nature of Things" Alex- 
ander Neckam (d. 1217) lias a long chapter on the seven arts in 

""'Willelmum predicas subtilioris vene et acutioris ingenii, eo quod grammatice 
et auctorum scientia pretermisso volavit ad versutias logicorum, ubi non in libris, 
sicut solet, dialecticam didicit, sed in scedulis et quaternis. Non est in talibus 
fundamentum scientie lateralis, multisque perniciosa est ista subtilitas, quam ex- 
tollis." Epistolae No. 101, Migne, Patrologiae Lat., 207, 311. Also in Denifle et 
Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 28. 

""At sunt philosophi qui nudum nomen et umbram 
Numinis arripiunt, qui vix libasse Minervam 
Exhausisse putant, tenuisque scientia pectus 
Erigit." 
Johannes de Altavilla, Archithrenius, ed. Wright, Satirical Poets (Rolls Series), 
I, 289. 

i2 "Ve duo predicta sunt, et ecce restat tertium ve : facultates quas liberales 
appellant amissa libertate pristina in tantam servitutem devocantur, ut comatuli 
adolescentes earum magisteria impudentes usurpent, et in cathedra seniorum 
sedeant imberbes, et qui nondum norunt esse discipuli laborant ut nominentur mag- 
i-tri. . . Omissis regulis artium abjectisque libris autenticis artificum muscas in- 
anium verbulorum sophismatibus suis tamquam aranearum tendiculis includunt." 
Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 48. This letter was written between 1 192-1203. 

(521) 



32 

which he sharply satirizes the craze for dialectical disputations 
at Paris, and deplores the decline of interest in literature. 73 
Gerald de Barri (d. 1223) likewise took a very determined stand 
in this matter and pointed out that the overemphasis on dialectics 
was in large measure the cause of the decline of the ancient lit- 
erature. He told many an amusing tale to warn his contempo- 
raries of the error of their ways but his witticisms were not ap- 
preciated until two centuries after his death. 74 

We have seen that about the middle of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, the trouvere Henri d'Andeli, in his Battle of the Herat 
Arts, defending the classics as taught at Orleans, still took a 
vigorous fling at Logic enthroned at Paris. But as the century 
advanced the protests ceased and for almost a hundred years the 
dominance of Aristotle was absolute and unassailed. 75 

Such are the definable causes which led to neglect of the 
classics at the medieval universities. There may have been other 
causes, less tangible but of considerable weight. It should be 
remembered that the twelfth and thirteenth centuries comprised 
an era of great material development. In many ways a "back- 
woods'' Europe was being transformed into a Europe with large 
well-built cities and highways for travel and commerce. This 
practical, feverishly active commercial age did not create the 
best conditions for purely humanistic pursuits. It is always 
well worth while to reflect upon the bearing which general condi- 
tions of life may have upon such a particular subject as we have 
in hand. 76 

"Alexander Neckam, De Naturis Rerun:, cap. CLXXIII, ed. Wright (Rolls 
Series), 283-307. 

"Giraldi Cambrensis, Gemma Ecclesiastica, II, cap. XXXVII, ed. Wright (Rolls 
Series), II, 348-357- 

"It should not be forgotten, however, that as late as about 1270 Roger Bacon 
made vigorous although ineffective protests against the excesses of the worship of 
Aristotelian logic: e. g. in his Compendium Studii Philosophiae, ed. Brewer, 469-473. 
See below, p. 44. 

"For survivals of the study of the classics during the barren century from 
about 1225-1325 see Appendix II. 



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CHAPTER II. 
Grammar. Decline op the Study op Language 

Until the rise of universities grammar was the most impor- 
tant of the seven liberal arts. For centuries it had been taught 
chiefly on the basis of the famous text-books of Donatus and 
Priscian. Donatus was a teacher of grammar in Home about 
3f)0 A. D. He wrote two text-books, a primary grammar, the 
urs minor, and a larger treatise, the ar* grammatica, of which how- 
ever only the third part, the so-called Barbarism/us, was read wide- 
ly. Priscian taught grammar at Constantinople about 500 A. D. 
and published his lectures as the institutionum grammaticarum 
iibri XVIII. This grammar was designed for advanced students. 
The first sixteen of these books came to be known as Prisoianus 
maior. They deal with the eight parts of speech. The last two 
books, which treat of syntax, were called Priscianus minor. 

From these and other manuals the rules of the Latin lan- 
guage had been taught in the medieval schools very much as the 
Romans had learned them. Donatus and Priscian had at times 
been modified and adapted to the needs and ideals of the Christian 
schools but not to any considerable extent. 

With the twelfth century there came such a marked change 
that thenceforward we may with justice distinguish between the 
"old" and the "new grammar." 1 It was natural that grammar 
should have its share in the general intellectual uplift of this cen- 
tury. In some respects it profited from the changes which were 
coming about. Donatus and Priscian had been written for stu- 
dents whose native tongue was Latin. They therefore treated 
many things in a manner ill-adapted for boys who learned it as a 
foreign language. Thus little had been done to supply the neces- 
sary general rules of syntax. One of the best contributions of 

'Thurot, Notices et Extraits de divers Manuscrits Latins pour servir a I'His- 
toire dcs Doctrines Grammaticales au Moycn Age in Notices et Extraits des Manu- 
scrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale, XXII, pt. 2, 60, 89. 

(523) 



34 

the "new grammar" was a system of syntax so well constructed 
that its principles were adopted by the humanists and are still 
in vogue even today. 2 More latitude also was given to the prac- 
tice of explaining the Latin rules in the vulgar tongue. This 
was especially true in lower work but it likewise was employed 
in teaching the texts used at universities.-' The Italians were fore- 
most in popularizing this mode of instruction. 4 

A somewhat curious new element was the verse form in which 
grammars were now written. A veritable craze for versifying pre- 
vailed during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. No doubt it 
would be as difficult to explain this phenomenon as it would to 
state just why dialectic became so very popular in the same per- 
iod. Whatever may have been the causes therefor, it is known that 
almost every species of literary production occasionally appeared 
in verse. In the twelfth century we meet with rhymed charters."' 
Chronicles were written more and more frequently in metrical 
form. Matthew of Vendome (d. c. 1200) composed a metrical 
formulary for letter writing. 7 Sermons were sometimes thrown 
into poetical form or rhythmical prose. 8 The Aurora of Peter of 
Riga (d. 1209), often referred to as the versified bible, was extreme- 
ly popular. 9 Quite naturally, grammar was soon drawn into the 
same current especially since it was believed that rhyme and 
metre were helps to the memory. As early as 1150 Peter Helias, 
a teacher at Paris, wrote a brief summary of Latin grammar in 

s Reichling, Das Doctrinale des Alexander de Villa-Dei, Einleitung, xii-xv. 

3 Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung. lx ; Delisle, Maitre Von, in Histoire 
Litteraire de la France, XXXI, 4. 

"Thurot, Notices et Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 92. 

'Giry, Manuel de Diplomatique, 453. 

"Meier, Die Sieben Freien Kiinste, 28. Wulker, Grundriss der angelsdchsischen 
Literatur, 338, cites examples of this kind in Anglo Saxon chronicles of the 10th 
and nth centuries. 

'Wattenbach, "Poetischer Briefsteller von M. v. Vendome," in Sitsungsberichte 
tier Bayrischen Akademie (1872,) II, 570. Bernard Sylvester of Tours, c. 1158, 
wrote a Suinnia Dictaniiiiuin in verse; Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, 
I. 514- 

"Lecoy de la Marche, La Chaire Francaise, 4-9. 

"Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, 530. 

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35 

hexameters. 1 " Practically all the new textbooks which now ap- 
peared were in verse form. Priscian began to lose ground partly 
because his work was in prose — hence attempts were made to bring 
him ti]) to date in this respect. A manuscript in the Bibliotheque 
Nationale contains a versified Priscian us maior which was used 
at the Sorbonne. 11 The following gloss, found in one of the new 
grammars, clearly states the demands of those times: ''The me- 
trical form which this author follows is better than prose which 
Priscian uses, and for these reasons: the metrical form can be 
more easily comprehended, it is more elegant, is briefer, and can 
be remembered more easily." 12 

A much more important chauge was effected by the influence 
of scholasticism which gradually transformed grammar into ;i 
speculative study. Instead of referring to examples from the best 
Latin literature to explain ;i doubtful point, the grammarians now 
preferred to solve the matter by the rules of logic. 13 Priscian 
could not satisfy these new requirements. The situation is thus 
summed up in a gloss to one of the new text-books: ''Since 
Priscian did not teach grammar by every possible means, the 
value of his books is greatly diminished. Thus he gives many 
constructions without assigning reasons for them, relying solely 
on tlie authority of the ancient grammarians. Therefore he 
should not teach, because those only should teach who give reasons 
for what they say." 14 The influence of the dialectical method 
went so far that even disputations in grammar were sometimes 

"Meier, Die Sieben Freien Kiinste, 15. 

"Fierville, Une Grammaire Latine inidite du XIlIc Steele. Avant Propos, vi, 
note 2, and vii. 

1! Sermo metricus. quern sequitur actor iste, ad plura se habet quani prosaicus, 
quern sequitur Priscianus et hoc ita probatur ; sermo metricus utilius factus est ad 
faciliorem acceptionem, ad venustam et lucidam brevitatem et ad memoriam firm- 
iorem." Wrobel, Eberhardi Bethuniensis Graecismus, Praefatio. ix. 

"Reichling, Dns Doctrinale, Einleitung, xi. 

""Cum Priscianus non docuerit grammaticam per omnem modum sciendi pos 
sibilem. in eo sua doctrina est valde diminuta. Unde constructiones multas dicit, 
quarum tamen causas non assignat, sed solum eas declarat per auctoritates anti- 
quorum grammaticorum. Propter quod non docet, quia illi tantum docent, qui causas 
suorum dictorum assignant." Wrobel, Eberhardi Bethuniensis Graecismus, Prae- 
fatio, ix. 

(525) 



36 

held at universities. 15 Duns Seotus (c. 1300) actually wrote a 
"gra mmatiea speculative!,." 16 

The greatest calamity, however, which befell grammar in this 
age was the woeful decline of literature. In the first chapter it 
was demonstrated how largely logic was responsible for this, but 
that there were also many other causes. Grammar now lost the 
heritage which the Romans had bestowed on her when they 
handed her over to the barbarians as the foremost among the 
seven liberal arts. Throughout the earlier middle ages she had 
preserved this birthright and at times a very comprehensive and 
liberal course in classical and Christian literature had been taught 
as a part of "grammar" in the medieval schools. But, with the 
rise of universities, purely literary pursuits were crowded to the 
wall and grammar was sheared and maimed until nothing was 
left except the technical rules of language and even they were 
taught badly. It was deplorable that even a man like Vincent 
of Beauvais (d. 1264) who was so well versed in the classics 17 
should have regarded their use in connection with grammar as 
merely incidental, to be resorted to as a pastime by those who 
chose to read them. 18 However, this decline of grammar was 
very gradual and there are some interesting episodes in the telling 
of the tale. 

Leaving unmentioned several minor works which were never 
prescribed at universities, 19 the epoch-making new grammars were 
the Doctrinale of Alexander of Villedieu and the Graecismus of 
Eberhard of Bethune. 

As his name indicates, Alexander was born in the little village 

1B Fournier, Les Statuts et Privileges des Universites Frangaises, II, 678. This 
is an example from Perpignan (1380-90?) See below, p. 53. 

"Appulin, Das Trillium, 43. 

"See Appendix II, below, p. 101. 

""Aliud (sc. genus scripturarum) eorum, quae appendicia sunt artium et in 
aliqua extra philosophiam materia versantur, ut sunt carmina poetarum, comoediae 
of tragoediae, fabulae quoque et historiae. . . . Deinde caetera, si vacant, legantur, 
quia plus aliquando delectare solent seriis admista ludicra." Quoted by Appuhn, 
Das Trillium, 18, n. 2. 

"Thurot, Notices et Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 16-27, 96. 

(526) 



37 

of Villedieu near Avranches in Normandy. 2 ' 1 The date of his 
birth is not known. It is quite certain, however, that he studied 
at Paris for a considerable period, probably some time within 
the last two decades of the twelfth century just when the uni- 
versity was being molded. Together with two companions, Alex- 
ander diligently attended lectures, especially those on Priscian 
and other grammarians, and thus collected voluminous notes. 
These the three students began to put into metrical form. AYhen 
one of his companions died and the other was called to England, 
Alexander remained in possession of the material which the three 
had gathered. Soon he was called away from Paris to teach the 
nephews of the Bishop of Dol. 21 Pleased with the progress of 
the children, the bishop suggested to Alexander that he write a 
systematic text-book of grammar for the instruction of the two 
boys. He followed this advice and, drawing upon the materials 
which he had gathered at Paris, wrote his famousDocf/-/H«/c. 22 
The Doctrinale was written in 1199. 23 It is in verse through- 
out, comprising 2,645 leonine hexameters. The author himself 
divided it into twelve chapters which in the fourteenth century 
were usually grouped into three parts: (1) etymology, (2) 
syntax, (3) quantity, accent and figures of speech. It improved 
upon Priscian especially in its chapters on syntax. Its verse form 
in itself gave it popularity in an age so partial to poetic expres- 
sion. Already in the thirteenth century its spread was rapid, al- 
though we have very little definite information until the four- 
teenth. It gradually crept into the universities where it tended to 

I0 The best account of Alexander of Villedieu is by Reichling, Das Doctrinale, 
Einleitung (189.3). A much earlier work is that of Thurot, Dc Alexandri de Villa 
Dei Doctrinali eiusque fatis (1850), which is still very useful. It should be supple- 
mented by what the author says in Notices et Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, passim. 

M Not his "grandchildren" as Reichling has it. See G. Paris in Romania, 
XXIII, 589, n. 2. 

"Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, xx-xxiv, gathered the above details 
about the life of Alexander from various glosses of the Doctrinale. Since perhaps 
all these glosses were written after the death of Alexander they may not be 
trustworthy in every detail. See one of them in Thurot, Notices et Extraits, 
XXII, pt. 2, 511. 

"Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, xxxvii. 

(527) 



38 

diminish the importance of Priscian or to drive him out alto- 
gether. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Doctrinale 
was the universal grammar of nearly all Europe. 24 Reichling 
describes 250 manuscript copies and 295 printed ones which 
still exist and his list is by no means exhaustive. 23 This alone 
would tell the story of the enormous popularity of the work. 
Towards the end of the fifteenth century, however, the humanists 
began to turn their attention to this universal darling of the 
schools. The movement began in Italy and then spread into 
Germany and France and the northern countries. At first at- 
tempts were made to emend the old standard text-book. Some 
of his critics gave Alexander credit for considerable ingenuity 
but soon he was roundly condemned everywhere and with the 
opening of the sixteenth century the reign of the Doctrinale, the 
rex barbarorum, was over. 26 

Although Alexander wrote other grammatical works, none of 
them ever attracted much attention. It is very probable, how 
ever, that be was the author of a text-book called Alexander. 
which was read at Toulouse and other universities of southern 
France ami which hitherto has been entirely unnoticed.- 7 

The Graecismus of Eberhard of Bethune is usually mentioned 
along with the Doctrinale and was used almost as widely. 28 It 
appeared in 1212. 2!> Like the Doctrinale it also was written in 
hexameter verse. Its peculiar name was derived from the chap- 
ter which treats of Greek etymology. Although Eberhard him- 
self did not know Greek, 1 " he thus supplied a need which had 
grown up from the fact that through the Vulgate and the Church 
Fathers many Greek as well as Hebrew words and constructions 

"Thurot, Notices ct Extraits, XXII, pt. 2. 93. 

"'Reichling, Das Doctrinale, exxi, clxix. Sue some additions made by Del- 
isle, "Alexandre de Villedieu et Guillaume le Moine." in Bibl. de I'Ecole des Chartcs 
LXII, 158. 

: "Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, Ixxxiii. See how sharply Reichling 
criticizes the humanistic grammarians, p. cvi. 

2T For a full discussion of this mysterious text-book see Appendix III. 

""Wrobel, (ed.) Eberhardi Bethunicnsis Graecismus. 

w Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung. Ixxxiii. 

'"Meier, Die Sieben Freien Kiinstc, 15. 

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39 

had crept into the medieval Latin which demanded elucidation. 3 ' 
The Graecismus also contains ordinary grammatical material like 
the parts of speech and rules of metre. Many additions and in- 
terpolations were made so that it is difficult to determine just 
how much was originally Eberhard's own work. 32 On the whole 
the Graecismus is more advanced than the Doctrinale which it 
supplements especially in its chapters on Greek words and Latin 
synonyms. 33 . 

So much for the history of the new tendencies in grammar 
and the new text-books. Their influence was important in shap- 
ing the work in grammar at the universities. 



For the University of Paris, the statutes give extremely little 
information on the subject of grammar. In 1215 there were pre- 
scribed the "two Prisdans or at least one of them." 34 Thereafter, 
until 136G, the mere mention of Priscian, usually both the maior 
and minor, is all that can be gleaned. 35 Nevertheless, the history 
of grammar even at Paris is not so lifeless and barren as an exam- 
ination of the statutes would indicate. We learn from Gerald 
de Barri that towards the close of the twelfth century grammar 
still held an important place at Paris. 36 During the first half of 
the thirteenth century there was still enough interest in (he sub- 
ject to cause some stir at Paris when the Doctrinale and the 
Graecismus were beginning to attract attention. Our sources of 
information are the writings of the grammarian John Garland. 

"Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, x. 

K B;ibler, Beitrage, 105; Thurot, Notices el Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 101. 

^Biibler, Beitrage, 102. 

M Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 78. 

^Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 138 (A. D. 1231) ; 228 (A. D. 1252); 
278 (A. D. 1255) ; II, 678 (before 1366). 

M GiraIdus Cambrensis, Speculum Ecclesiae, ed. Brewer, IV, 3, 7. The anony 
mous Vocabulary of Gonvillc and Cains College MS. 385, p. 52 (See above, p. 15) 
gives the following program for grammar : "Gramatice daturus operam audiat et 
legat Barbarismum Donati et Prisciani mains volumen cum libro constructionum — 
et Remigium et Priscianum de metris et de ponderibus et duodecim versibus Virgilii 
et Priscianum de accentibus quern tamen multi negant editum esse a Prisciano in- 
spiciat diligenter." 

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40 

A short sketch of his life lias already been given. 37 Of his 
many works his chief grammatical treatises must uow engage our 
attention. 38 They are the Clavis compendii, the Compendium 
grammatice, and the Accentarius. 39 They are all in metrical 
form. The Compendium grammatice contains about 4000 lines, 
being much longer therefore than the Doctrinale of Alexander of 
Yilledieu which has only 2(545. The Claris compendii which, 
as its title indicates, was designed as an introduction to the Com- 
pendium, is about half as long, whereas the Accentarius is still 
briefer. 

No oue has ever studied these works thoroughly. To those 
who have glanced at them or read extracts from them they have 
seemed exceedingly pedantic and obscure. 4 " That criticism cer- 
tainly seems to be merited; yet before final judgment is passed 
on these books they should be compared carefully with works like 
the Doctrinale and the Qraecismus. It is to be hoped that this 
will be done soon. 41 

Whatever may be the verdict as regards the value of the 

: ' : See above, p. 17. 

38 None i if those that will be mentioned have ever been published. The most im- 
portant MSS. in which they have been preserved are now at Bruges and at Cam- 
bridge, England. See the bibliography of MSS. below. Also Scheler, Lexicog- 
graphie Latine du XIlc ct du XHIe Sieelc. 

"These works are extant in the following manuscript copies: Clavis com- 
pendii, (i) Bruges MS. 546, fos. 25 r° — 42 v° ; (2) Gonville and Cains College 
MS. 1.36, p. 166 ff ; (3) Ibid., MS. 3S5, p. 271 ff. Compendium grammatice, (1) 
Gonville and Caius College MS. 385, p. 211 ff; (2) Ibid.. MS. 503. P- 54 ff ; (3) 
Bruges MS. 546, fos. 89 r° — 145 v°, (here wrongly entitled .Irs versificatoria) . 
Accentarius, (1) Gonville and Caius College MS. 385. p. 68 ff ; (2) Bruges MS. 
546, fos. 53 v° — 77 r° (entitled .Irs lectoria ecclesiae.) 

'"Scheler, Lexicographie Latine du XIlc ct du XHIe Steele, 48, speaks of the 
Clavis compendii as a "lourde composition." See also Haureau, Xotiees ct Ex- 
traits, XXVI I. pt. 2, 1 : and Itaskins, "A List of Textbooks from the Close of the 
Twelfth Century," in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XX (1909), 77. 

""As early as 1867, Scheler, Lexicographie Latine du XIlc ct du XHIe Steele. iS, 
wrote: "personne encore, que je sache, ne s'est impose la tache de jcter un pen plus 
de lumiere sur la carriere pedagogique et sur l'ensemble des travaux si varies de ce 
fecond ecrivain. Une etude approfondie sur Garlande, envisage an point de vue de 
l'etat des lettres et d'organisation de l'enseignement au I3e siecle, trouverait dans 
la poussiere des bibliotheques encore de nombreuses sources d'information," 

(530) 



41 

grammatical works of John Garland, it is safe to say thai he 
must have been prominent iu his day as a teacher at the univer- 
sities of Paris and Toulouse. Roger Bacon had heard him lec- 
ture and wrote approvingly of him whereas he thought Alexander 
of Villedieu was not a worthy authority. 42 His activities as a 
writer and teacher show that there still was a good deal of live 
interest in grammar at Paris during the first half of the thirteenth 
century. That the Doctrinale and the Graecismus were well 
known is plain from the fact that John Garland tried hard to 
supplant them or at least correct and supplement them by his own 
books. 

A gloss to the Accentarius (Ars lectoria) explains that this 
work was written on account of the ignorance which prevailed be- 
cause of the neglect of the ancient classics; two modern books, 
the Graecismus and the Doctrinale had been written to teach cor- 
rect grammar but they had done it so inefficiently that the author 
had taken it upon himself to supplement them and for that rea- 
son had written the Compendium, the Clavis compendii and this 
Accentarius.* 3 

The truth of this gloss (which may of course have been 
written by the author himself) is more than borne out by various 
passages in his works. In his Morale Scholarium described in the 
previous chapter 44 he has a long paragraph of warning against 
certain useless modern books which turn out to be the Doctrinale 

"Roger Bacon. Compendium Stttdii, ed. Brewer, 453. 477. On p. 477 he criti- 
cizes the grammarian Brito for quoting Alexander, "quia numquam fuit dignus auc 
toritate." 

<3 "Causa principalis est duplex, scilicet amicitia, altera moderni temporis igno- 
rantia propter lapsum autorum. quia ut evitarentur vitia in communi sermone ct 
vitia soloecismi, conati sunt duo moderni auctorcs, videlicet Graecismus et Doctrin- 
ale, tradere doctrinam declinandi, construendi, breves et longas cognoscendi ct recte 
secundum accentum pronuntiandi, et diffiniendi figuras ad grammaticam pertinentes, 
qui tamen omnia insufficienter fecerunt, undc ad eorum suppletionem artifex huius 
operis quod pro manibus habemus, quoddam opus composuit quod compendium in- 
titulavit et hoc praesens opus ab ipso depehdens, et aliud opus quod e.tiam clavem 
compendii intitulavit." Bruges MS. 546, fol. 53 v°. Quoted by Scbeler, Lexico- 
graphic Latine, 50. 

"See above, p. 17. 

(531) 



42 

and Graecismus. is He says that the former closes the way to 
true knowledge, that its diction is faulty and verbose, that it 
impedes the quickwitted and does not teach students the real 
difficulties of language; 46 as for the Graecismus, it is a menda- 
cious guide for Greek words, since even its Latin is as turgid 
as the isthmian mountain. 47 For milk, both offer poison t<> the 
boys. 4S 

In the Clavis compendii a systematic criticism of the Doctri- 
nale and Graecismus is undertaken. The third part of the work 
is devoted to that purpose 40 and we find in it such chapters as 
"Hie ostendum mendacia grecismi," 50 and "De correctionibus 
super doctrinale." 51 Time and again John warns his students 
against the mistakes of Alexander of Villedieu and promises to 
correct them. 52 His favorite epithet for the Graecismus is "men- 
dax." In one obscure passage he even calls the Doctrinale and 
the Graecismus the "little twin apes." 53 

,5 The heading of the paragraph reads: "Persuadco ad lihros philosophicos prop 
ter quedam moderna scripta inutilia ad laudem cancellarii." Morale Scholarium, 
Gonville and Caius College MS. 385, p. 312; Bruges MS. 546, fol. 6 v°. 
""'Doctrinale viani claudens ad philosophiam 
Non gerit egregiam linguam sed tautologiam 
Tardat preproperos nee ducit ad ardua cleros." Ibid. 

""Mendax grecismus est grecis philosophismus 

Quando latinismus tnrget inons velud ismus." Ibid. 
(Above inons the Gonville arid Caius College MS. has the following gloss: "est 
mons stans inter egeuin mare et ionium mare.") 

'""Virus quod trutinant pueris pro lacte propinant." Ibid. 

""Tertius emendat quedam tibi scripta moderna." Clavis compendii, Bruges 
MS. 546. fol. 25 v° ; Gonville and Caius College MSS. 385, p. 271 ; 136, p. 166. 
'"Bruges MS. 546, fol. 27 r°. 
"Ibid. fol. 30 v°. 

""Post predicta novum vidcas dilectc laborem 
In doctrinali res est viciosa recenti 
De multis pauca correctis hie ego pono 
De quibus o iuvenis merito dubitare fateris." Ibid. 
''"'Ipsa que gramatice prostat Iaterata capillos, 
De doctrinali de grescismo referamus ; 
Que per eos scripta multo meliora fugamus 
.Simioli gemini cunctos vicere gigantes 

(532) 



43 

The Compendium grammatics* also devotes much attention 
to the new text-books of Alexander and Eberhard. True, the 
author tells his readers that some credit should be given the 
Doet finale and the Graeeismus for the few good things they have 
done for grammar; but when an old tree has died it should be 
plucked out roots and all so that the works of one generation 
may not obstruct the progress of the next. This John proposes 
to do and in his new Compendium promises to sow acceptable 
grammatical seed and to correct the above antiquated text- 
books. 55 

Not content with criticizing the Doctrinale in his own works, 
John undertook to emend it. At least three copies of this emended 
Doctrinale are extant today — all in manuscripts of the thirteenth 
century. 50 According to Reich ling this emendation was very 

Tamquam ridiculo monstro sua terga parantes." 
Clavis compendii. Gonville and Caius College, MSS. 136, p. 171; 385, p 274; 
Bruges, MS. 546, fol. 27 r°. 

"This book seems to have been written between 1218 and 1236. Philippus is 
mentioned as chancellor (Gonville and Caius College MSS. 385, p. 211 ; 593, p. 54). 
Philippe de Greve (Philippus de Greve) was chancellor of the University of Paris 
1218-1236 (Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, xx ; Haskins, in Amcr. Hist. Rev. 
X, 7 note). He died in 1236 (Chartularium, I, 162; Valois, Guillaume d'Auvergne, 
34.). Probably the work was written much nearer 1236 than 1218, for, several 
lines above on the MS. pages just referred to, John seems to speak of himself as 
an old man ("Ibo senex ad doctores"). 

K "Illis in rebus paucis quas cernere queras 

Est inventori grecismus gratia danda 

Et doctrinalis. Quo quedam silva recedit 

Sed tibi proposui resides avellere stirpes 

Ne lapsum faciant natis vestigia patrum, 

Granaque grata seram que multiplicentur in usum 

Fautor apolinii redit in breve corrigiturque 

Hie doctrinalis liber et grecismus auctor." 
Compendium grammatice, Gonville and Caius College MSS. 385, p. 211; 593, p. 54. 
For some detailed criticism of the Graeeismus and Doctrinale see Gonville and 
Caius College MS. 385, pp. 243-248; Bruges MS. 546, fol. 121 r°, ff. 

"Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, liii. Haureau, Notices et Extraits, 
XXVII, pt. 2, 86 (criticizing Thurot), contends that John Garland never attempted 
to emend the Doctrinale. This opinion is of course untenable in the light of the 
above facts. 

(533) 



44 

thorough .and comprehensive, even more so than the many simi- 
lar attempts made by the humanists of the fifteenth century. 
Nevertheless, it never became popular. The Doctrinale in almost 
its original dress was soon to find its way into nearly every school 
and university in Europe; whereas this emended edition as well 
as John's own grammatical works were almost entirely forgotten. 

Perhaps the writings of John Garland are so worthless that 
I hey fully merit even more profound oblivion than has been their 
lot. That cannot lie decided until competent scholars have ex- 
amined them closely. But even if John shall be definitely pro- 
nounced a bad poet and a bad grammarian as compared with 
his contemporaries, he nevertheless will always remain an inter- 
est inn figure in the early history of the University of Paris. He 
at least stood for reform and for improvement in literary form 
and expression in an age which was fast becoming wholly indif- 
ferent to good style and good literature. John Bale (1495-1563) 
said of him (perhaps, however, with something of the sneer of 
the humanist) : "Hence he was held to be a famous rhetorician 
and poet in that century of hopeless blindness when the arts de- 
generated from all purity of expression.""' 7 

Sulpicius, the first humanistic grammarian, expressed sur- 
prise that in times past nobody had undertaken to write a new 
grammar but that all had preferred to follow blindly the worth- 
less Doctrinale. 58 Such a task John Garland had really under- 
taken, but he seems not to have aroused even a single critic or 
rival. His contemporaries simply had lost all interest in deep 
and appreciative study of language and literature. 

One other voice there was crying in the wilderness. It is 
not strange that it should have been that of Roger Bacon whose 
fate it was to champion so many worthy but losing causes. He 
wrote about 1270 and deplored that in spite of the almost feverish 
mental activity of the previous forty years, error and ignorance 
had never been greater. With remarkable breadth of view he 

"Uncle rhetor ac poeta insignis habebatur in eo corruptissimae caecitatis sae- 
culo cum degenenarent artes ab omni sermonis puritate." Quoted by Rockinger, 
Brief steller und Formelbiicher, I, 486. 

r,s Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, lxxxvi. It would be an interesting 
study to compare the grammars of John Garland and that of Sulpicius. 

(534) 



45 

called for reform in the study of grammar in its widest sense, 
for improvement of style and better appreciation of ancient lit- 
erature. 59 He even went much further than this and insisted 
that the study of Greek, Hebrew, Arabic and Chaldaean was 
absolutely necessary for a thorough knowledge of Latin and for 
an understanding of Aristotle and the Scriptures. 60 There is 
no indication, however, that his ideas along these lines made the 
least impression on university work. 01 

After tin' death of John Garland (somewhat after 1252) 
\ery little more can be said about grammar at the great univer- 
sity of France. Logic and philosophy now held full sway in the 
arts course. Until 1366 not another reference to the Doctrinale 
and Graecismus can be found in connection with Paris. Not a 
word more about the works of John Garland. There is no trace 
of the ancient classics until the second half of the fourteenth 

'"'"Charles, Roger Bacon. 118 ff., 124. The following quotation from Bacon's 
Greek Grammar shows his independent method in the study of language and inci- 
dentally also his knowledge of the ancient classics : "'Capio quidem maxime sequi 
istos, Bedam, Priscianum, Donatum [notice that he does not mention the authors of 
the Doctrinale or the Graecismus], Servium, Lucanum, luvenalem, Stachium, Hora- 
cium, Persium, Iuvencum, Aratorem, Prudencium, Paulinum, Prosperum, Sedulium, 
Isidorum, Plinium, quia hi sunt de antiquiorihus et certioribus et qui plus sciverunt 
de greco et per consequens de grammatica latinorum. Huguccionem vero et Papiam 
non recipio nisi ubi alij confirmant eos, quia in pluribus erronei sunt, quia nescier- 
unt grecum. Et Britonem in tractatu suo de vocalibus grammaticis nolo sequi in 
aliquo, quia ubique errat, vel dubia dicit vel vana, vel probaciones legitimas non 
aft'ert sui capitis stulticia obstinatus." The Greek Grammar of Roger Bacon and a 
fragment of his Hebrew Grammar, ed. Nolan-Hirsch, 37. (Quoted by Felder, 
Geschichte der Wisscnschaftlichen Studicn im Franciskanerordeu, 416. n. 8.). 

'"Opus Mains, pt. Ill, ed. Bridges, I, 66. Also passim in this and the other 
works of Roger Bacon. See also especially Felder, Geschichte der Wissenschaft- 
liclicn Stiidien im Franciskanerorden, 413. 

"'Unless perhaps an echo of them may be found in the provisions of the Coun- 
cil of Vienne, 1312, that at the universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna and Salam- 
anca there should be established chairs for the teaching of Hebrew, Greek, Arabic 
and Chaldaean, two for each language. The only avowed object was to prepare 
students for missionary work. Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, II, 154. That 
this decree did not become a dead letter (Thurot, De I' Organisation de VEnseigne- 
ment dans VUniversite de Paris, 85, says it did) may be gathered from Denifle et 
( hatelain, Chartularium, II, 293. 

(535) 



46 

century. 62 Apparently Priscian alone remained. His books are 
the only grammar texts prescribed in the statutes of V2~>'2 and 
1255. 63 But even Priscian was not studied seriously as is evident 
from the oaths, (latino- some time before 1366, which bachelors in 
arts were obliged to take when they came up for their license. 
Among other tilings they were to swear that they had read both 
Priscians, but that oath might be dispensed with. 64 Likewise they 
must take oath that they had studied at Paris in the faculty of 
arts for three years, but it was understood that Ibis signified arts 
without grammar. 65 Thus grammar was considered as scarcely 
belonging to the more serious work of the arts course. The 
statutes of 1366 are still plainer; Priscian is not mentioned at 
all; it is stipulated that candidates for the bachelor's degree in 
arts must be well versed in grammar and must have heard the 
Doctrinale and the Graecismus — the first mention of these books 
in the statutes of the university. It was sufficient however if 
the candidates had read them in any other university or even in 
any other school where grammar was taught. 1 ' Indeed, most of 
such instruction was done in the lesser schools of Paris. 07 Thus 
grammar now was hardly more than an entrance requirement 
to the important work of the arts course which consisted of logic 
and philosophy. 

This woeful decline in the study of grammar at Paris aud 
other northern universities naturally produced a proportionate 

° = See below, p. 61. 

"Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 228, 278. 

,4 "Primo, quod audivistis Priscianum majorem et Priscianum minorem semel 
ordinarie et 1 >is cursorle, vel e contra (De ; slo dispensatur)." Denifle et Clia:ei?.in, 
Chartularium, II, 678. 

"""Item, quod studuistis Parisius in facilitate artium per tres annos (Per facul- 
tatem fuit inter pretatum quod istud intelligitur absque gramatica, et quod stefficit 
fuisse [studuissef] per duos annos complete, et attingere tertium)." Ibid. 

'""Item statuimus auctoritate predicta quod scolares antequam ad determinan- 
dum in artibus admittantnr, congrue sint in grammatica edocti, et Doctrinale et 
Grecismum audiverint ; dummodo in studiis aut aliis locis, ubi grammaticalia didi- 
cerint, dicti libri legentur." Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, III, 145. 

"Thurot, De I' Organisation de I'Enseignement dans I'Universite de Paris, 93: 
Rashdall, Universities, IT, 507; Denifle et Chatelain. Chartularium, III, 51, 658. 

(536) 



47 

decline in the purity and elegance of spoken and written Latin. 
Already Inward the middle of the thirteenth century the logicians 
of Paris had been taunted by the author of the Battle of the Seven 
Arts for their corrupt style. 88 Denifle has shown how the neglect 
of grammar, including the ancient classics, led to a marked de- 
terioration in the style of the charters which issued from the 
University of Paris especially during the first seventy years of 
the fourteenth century. 09 Giry has made the same observation 
in regard to the language of charters in general. 7 " In northern 
Europe, during the century roughly from 1250 to 1350, the study 
of language and literature was at its very lowest ebb. 71 

In Italy the decline of grammar was due chiefly to the popu- 
larity of law and the ars dictaminis as will be shown at length 
in the next chapter. 72 While the ars dictaminis was at its height in 
the first half of the thirteenth century, grammar was sadly eclipsed 
at Bologna, but even at that time, it was not neglected entirely. 

6s Logic sent a messenger to the camp of Grammar to arrange terms of peace; 
but his speech was so faulty that he could scarcely be understood and hence his 
proposals were not listened to. However, Logic comforted him and took him back 
into her high tower to continue to teach him to fly while he was still but learning 
to walk. 

"Mes Logique le conforta, 
En sa haute tor Ten porta, 
Si li voloit fere voler 
Aingois que il peiist aler." 
vv. 394-397; Heron, Oeuvrcs de Henri d'Andeli, 57. 

""Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, III, Introductio, x. 

"Giry, Manuel de Diplomatique, 462. 

"The conditions at Paris were representative of those everywhere north of 
the Loire River and in England. To be sure at Oxford and especially at the Fran- 
ciscan School there, men like Robert Grosseteste, Thomas and Adam Marsh and 
Roger Bacon stood awhile for quite opposite tendencies — but long before the end of 
the thirteenth century their disciples had been drawn into the current of Paris. 
Felder, Geschichte der Wissensctiaftlichcn Studien im Franziskanerorden, 412, 
423-24. 

"Thurot lays rather too much stress on this when he says, "En resume, la gram- 
maire, en Italie, tout en recevant du nord sa terminologie et ses doctrines. .1 
ete cultivee en vue d'un but tout pratique ; elle a ete subordonnee a l'art d'ecrire des 
lettres, qui etait lui-meme une annexe de l'etude du droit," Notices et Extraits, 
XXII, pt. 2, 93. 

(537) 



48 

Thus a certain master Bene was employed in 1218 to teach gram- 
mar at Bologna. 73 Although he was much interested in the pop- 
ular ars dictaminis, and even wrote a manual of it, nevertheless 
he gained fame chiefly as a grammarian. 74 By the statutes of the 
city of Bologna in BJ50, masters in grammar were exempted from 
military service just as were the doctors of law. 7 " During the 
second half of that century, when the ars dictaminis had lost 
some of its prestige, there were many distinguished professors of 
grammar at Bologna. 70 An additional proof of a rather healthy 
interest in grammar in northern Italy has been furnished lately 
by the discovery of the Compendium Grammaticae written in the 
last half of the thirteenth century by an Italian named Caesar. 77 
Unlike the new grammars of northern Europe, the Compendium 
is in prose. Throughout, in method and often in form, it is based 
upon Priscian. Illustrations are taken from Sallust, Virgil, 
Horace, Ovid, Lucan and Juvenal. The author knew the Doc- 
trinale and Graecisnvus very well but he rarely follows them. In 
many ways he improved upon the former; indeed, his book was 
designed to compete with it. 78 The Compendium was even used 
at the University of Paris 7 " and the fact that several copies of it 
have come down to us shows that it must have been quite popu- 
lar. 811 Caesar's manual well illustrates the practical tendencies 
in grammar as taught by the Italians. The methods of the school- 

I3 Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Professoribus, II, 240. 

^Gaudenzi, "Sulle Opere dei Dettatori Bolognesi," in Bullettino dell'Istituto 
Storico Italiano, No. 14 (.1895), 153. 

"Denifle, Die Universit'dten, I, 205. 

76 Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Professoribus, I, 606-07, 
names especially Gerardus Cremonensis, Gerardus de Amandola, Bonacius Bergo- 
mas and Johannes Andreae. 

"Fierville, Une Grainmaire Latinc inedite dii Xllle Siecle. See especially pp. 
x and xxvi of the Avant-Propos for a discussion of the authorship of the work. 
It must have been written after 1252 for it contains modified extracts from the 
Suiiinia Dictaminis of Ponce of Provence which was written in that year. See p. 
116. 

: "Fierville, xv-xxvi. 

'"Fierville, vi. 

80 Fierville, viii. 

(538) 



49 

men never got a firm foothold in the peninsula and therefore 
speculative grammar did not find favor as in the north of Europe. 81 
Unfortunately, not much can be learned about the actual work 
in grammar done at the Italian universities. The Statutes of 
Bologna reveal that it was considered a distinct branch of the arts 
course as were philosophy, astrology, logic and rhetoric. 82 Stu- 
dents might graduate in any one of these or in several or all of 
them; 83 hence there were special students and even doctors in 
grammar. 84 At the beginning of the fifteenth century candi- 
dates for promotion in grammar were examined in Priscianus 
miliar and minor* 7 ' That may have been all that was done in 
grammar at Bologna, but probably here as elsewhere the history 
of the work in the arts course can not be read from the statutes 
alone. It may safely be said however that there was nothing 
remarkable, nothing that had not been excelled in good schools 
<luring the century before the rise of universities. On the whole 
it appears that grammar fared almost as badly in Italian univer- 
sities as in those of northern Europe. 



At the universities of southern France we meet with some 
interesting exceptional conditions in the study of grammar. Here 
the influence of Aristotle was not so dominant as in the north 
and law and medicine occupied a higher position. Perhaps also 
in this land of the troubadours a stronger literary instinct helped 
to prevent metaphysics from completely overriding the study of 
language. Whatever may have been the causes, grammar flour- 
ished here more than it did anywhere else in Europe. 

The statutes of the University of Toulouse furnish the best 
data. When this institution was founded in 1229, an interesting 

"Thurot, Notices et Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 91-92. Thurot calls attention to the 
fact that the most popular dictionaries of the Middle Ages came from Italy and that 
Italian grammarians translated many words and phrases into the vulgar tongue. 

""Malngola, Statuti dellc University c del Collegi dciio Studio Bolognese, 287. 
See also Rashdall, I'niicrsities, I. 211 

"Malagola, Statuti, 488-89. 

M Malagola, Statuti, 257. 

""Malagola, Statuti, 488. 

(549) 



50 

circular letter was sent out as an advertisement. 8(; It merely 
mentions the different subjects that were to be taught but among 
these grammar is named separately along with theology, Aris- 
totelian logic and philosophy, church music, civil law and medi- 
cine. Fourteen masters were provided for; in theology four, two 
in law, six in the liberal arts (i. e. in logic and philosophy), and 
two in grammar. The salary of the masters in logic was twen- 
ty "marks" per year, that of the masters in grammar ten 
"marks." ST Thus at the very beginning grammar obtained an 
independent standing at Toulouse such as it probably did not 
have at Paris even at this early date. ss 

Until 1328 nothing more definite can be learned regarding 
grammar at Toulouse. In that year a statute was drawn up 
containing a program of lectures for the masters in grammar. 
This proposed simply to regulate existing customs, therefore the 
books prescribed had been read at Toulouse before 1328 but how 
long before it is impossible to say 89 
The program was as follows : 
In the morning during the winter, after having conducted 

80 Fournier, Statuts, I, 439; also in Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 129. 

"Fournier, Statuts, I, 441. 

^John Garland was one of these first two masters in grammar. One is tempted 
to conjecture that the good start which grammar got at Toulouse was due to his 
influence. 

S8 "Item, cum secundum usum et consuetudinem studii Tholosani et magistrorum 
tarn in artibus quam in grammatica, sint pro lecturis totius anni tam ordinariis quam 
cxtraordinariis certi libri ordinati, et de artistis tantum est in statuto, [see appendix 
I], et etiam grammatici in yeme legere debeant de mane, post determinationem sui 
proverbii cum questionibus, Priscianum majorem et immediate postea de Doctrinali 
et post de Alexandre, et post comestionem, post declarationem puerorum faciendam 
per bacallarium principalem et repetitionem lectionum, habeant dicti magistri in 
grammatica tempore hiemali in nonis legere de Ebrardo, de Historiis Alexandri et 
Hympnis et de Metrificatura, in horis et temporibus per eos ordinatis et consuetis, 
et in vacationibus Nativitatis Domini habeant legere predicti magistri Actores et 
Compotum manualem ; et in estate, loco Prisciani majoris, de mane legant de Re- 
gimine et de Constructione et postea unam lectionem doctrinalis de Declinationibus 
a principio inchoando et continuando a principio Alexandri, et continuare habeant 
de cetero lectionem Ebrardi, sic quod Ebrardus finitus sit revoluto toto hyemis tem- 
pore et estate." Fournier, Statuts, I, 501. 



(540) 



51 

a grammatical lesson on proverbs, the masters in grammar were 
to lecture on Priscianus maior, and immediately after on the Doc- 
trinale and Alexander. 

Alter the midday meal when a recitation had been held by 
the principal bachelor and the lectures had been repeated, the 
masters were to teach in winter, Ebrardus, the Historiae Alexan- 
dra, Hympni and Metrificatura. 

During the Christmas vacation they were to teach the Adores 
and Compotus. 

In summer, in place of Priscianus maior, they were to read 
the eighth, ninth and first chapters of the Doctrinale, namely de 
Regimine, de Gonstructione and de Declinationibus. Besides, 
they were to continue Alexander and finish Ebrardus. 

Much later statutes of the University of Toulouse, dated 
1426 and 1489, still mention the Doctrinale, Ebrardus, Alexander 
and Priscianus maior as the grammatical books in common use at 
the university 90 . 

At Perpignan, about 1380-1300, a course in grammar was 
given very similar to that outlined above. 91 The standard books 
here as at Toulouse were the Doctrinale, Ebrardus, Alexander 
and Priscian if there was any demand for him. Besides, masters 
taught Compotus and Hymni. Bachelors reading in "lectorio 
miuori" taught the auctores which are here defined as "Cathonem, 

""See below, p. 59. 

""Item, magistri legentes grammatical teneantur complere Doctrinale, 
Ebreardum et Alexandrum in festo Sancti Johannis, et teneantur legere compotum, 
ymnos, temporilms consuetis. Et teneantur facere duo proverbia de mane et duo de 
vespere, et probare nomina vel verba [legendo vel ....] de mane et de vespere, et 
eliam reaudire a scolaribus de vespere lectiones consuetas ab ipsis de mane lcctas; 
et Priscianum legere si fuerint audientes. 

Item baccallarii legentes in lectorio minori legant auctores consuetos, videlicet : 
Cathonem, Contentum et Thobiam, et teneantur facere duo proverbia de mane et 
duo de vespere et reaudire lectiones lectas et probare nomina et verba in proverbiis 
supradictis. 

Item statuimus insuper quod scolares audientes tarn logicam quam grammaticam 
babeant ad minus ter vel bis in septimana disputare. magistro presente. Et si in 
materia disputata aliquod fuerit dubium, illud magister habeat declarare." 
Fournier, Slatuts, II, 678. 

(511) 



52 

Contentum et Tdbiam." Masters as well as bachelors were also 
obliged to compose proverbs and to explain the grammatical acci- 
dents of the nouns and verbs found in them. Provision was made 
for daily recitations and two or three times a week the students, 
in the presence of masters, were obliged to hold disputations on 
grammatical subjects. 

In all probability a course very much like that at Toulouse 
and Perpignan was given at other universities of southern 
France. The statutes yield meagre information but masters in 
grammar are mentioned at the universities of Cahors 92 and Or- 
ange, 93 and in inventories of the goods of students of Avignon 
most of the above grammatical books are listed. 94 Even at the 
northern university of Orleans masters and scholars in grammar 
are spoken of in a statute of the year 1312. 95 At about the same 
time the Doctrinale and Cato were in use there. 96 

The above details show that at least at the universities of 
Toulouse and Perpignan the study of grammar was an important 
branch in the curriculum. True, the ancient classics were not 
read, but the amount of grammatical instruction was comparative- 
ly large. A resume with explanations will be necessary to make 
the course perfectly clear. 

The chief books were the famous Doctrinale and Graecis- 
niiis.'-' 7 They had probably been introduced into Toulouse long 
before 1328 when the statutes first mention them. A manuscript 
at Amiens (No. 427) contains a commentary on the Doctrinale 
copied at Toulouse in 1201. 9S The third standard grammatical 
text was the Alexander which probably was the "Glossary" of 
Alexander of Villedieu designed to supplement his Doctrinale." 

"Tournier, Statuts, II, 544 (A. D. 1343) ; 547 (A. D. 1367). 
Tournier, Statuts, II, 718 (A. D. 1365). 
"Fournier. Statuts, II, 453-61 (A. D. 1459). 
Tournier, Statuts, I, 40. 

""Delisle, Lc Formulaire de Treguier, Appendice, No. X. See also Haskins, in 
A nter. Hist. Rev., Ill, 220, note 3. 
8: See above, p. 36. 

"Journal des Savants, Nov. 1894, p. 706. 
M See above, p. 38, and Appendix III. 

(542) 



53 

The fourth regular text-boot was Priscianus maior. There are 
clear indications however that Priscian was dropping into the 
background. The Toulouse program ( 1328 ) provided that it was 
not tn l>c read in the summer term but that in its stead the first. 
eighth, and ninth chapters of the Doctrinale were to be substitut- 
ed. Now the eighth and ninth chapters treat of syntax, and we 
have seen that it was exactly in syntax that Priscian was weak 
and the Doctrinale especially strong. 1 This is a good illustration 
of the way in which the old standard text-book was crowded 
out by the new partly because the latter better supplied the 
current demands. Towards the close of the fourteenth cen- 
tury Priscian was so unpopular at Perpignan that he was 
to be read only "if there were any hearers." A little further 
along in the same document it is prescribed that students in 
grammar should hold disputations, showing how completely 
grammar had come into the domain of dialectic. Priscian pro- 
vided no food for the speculative method whereas in the gram- 
mars of Alexander of Villedieu and Eberhard of Bethune there 
was an abundance of it. Add to all this that the old text-book 
was in prose whereas the new ones were in the popular form of 
verse and it is not surprising that Priscian rapidly lost ground 
even in these southern universities where grammar was studied 
mostly seriously. 

According to ancient custom some reading was done in con- 
nection with the study of technical grammar. The Toulouse 
statutes simply mention "Adores" or authors. In twelfth cen- 
tury documents adores or audores 2 can be safely translated 
"classical authors," but in the course of the thirteenth century 
the wind obtained a very restricted meaning 3 . Light is thrown 
mi the "Adores" of Toulouse by the program of Perpignan in 
which the "audores consuetos" are given as "Cathonem, ('milcii- 
tum et Thobiam." Probably the adores of Toulouse were the 

'See above, p. 37. 

'Almost always, in manuscripts of the thirteenth century onward we find actor 
and not auctor in the sense of author. Thurot, Notices et Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 103. 
n. 2. 

"Denifle, Die Universitaten, I. 758, n. 19. 

(543) 



54 

same as those at Perpignan. Throughout the later Middle Ages 
adores usually signified the elementary reading books Cato, 
Aesopus and Avianus. 4 Cato was a small collection of maxims 
and proverbs made about 300 A. D. and arranged in the form of 
couplets in hexameter. 3 Aesopus and Avianus both were col- 
lections of fables. Aesopus was a selection ultimately based 
upon those of Phaedrus (first century A. D.) consisting each of 
three to eight distichs. 6 Avianus (fourth or fifth century A. D.) 
composed forty-two Aesopean fables in elegiac metre each con- 
sisting of seven or eight distichs. 7 These works, which, taken 
together, formed the first reader in medieval schools, were often 
rewritten, rearranged and augmented to suit the taste and genius 
of successive generations. Thus we still have a fragment of a 
Novus Avianus of Alexander Neckam (d. 1227). 8 Sometimes 
other books were also designated adores. 9 Such was the Tobias 
of Matthew of Vendome mentioned in the statute of Perpignan. 1 " 
The title Contentum seems to be erroneous. Perhaps it should 
read Cornutum. The Gornutus or Distigium Gornuti was a short 
collection of distichs full of (Ireco-Latin and strange Latin words 
with extensive explanations in the margin. 11 It is usually as- 

'Voigt, "Das Erste Lesebuch des Triviums in den Kloster-und Stiftsschulen des 
Mittelalters." 

"Appuhn, Das Trivium, 35. 

"The so-called Romulus wrote a prose version of the fables of Phaedrus not lat- 
er than the tenth century. The Aesopus in question was a versification of the first 
three books of Romulus. Teuffel and Schwabe, History of Roman Literature, I, 37; 
Reichling, Das Doetrinale, Einleitung, xviii. 

'Teuffel and Schwabe, History of Roman Literature, II, .444. The great authori- 
tative work on these and similar books is Hervieux, Les Fabulistcs Latins. 

'Teuffel and Schwabe, History of Roman Literature, II, 445. Published by 
Hervieux, Les Fabulistes Latins. Ill, 402 ff ; for other imitators see pp. 317 ft'. 

"Carre, L'Enseigncment Sceondairc a Troycs, 19, speaking of the first half of 
ihe fifteenth century says that there were then eight or nine books that might be 
spoken of as adores. He names : (1) Cato, (2) Theodulus, (3) Faeetus, (4) Car- 
men tic contempti mundi, (5) Tobias Mathai 1'indocineusis, (6) Fabulae Esopi, (7) 
Alani parabolae, (8) Floretus. 

"For a description of the Tobias see above, p. 24. 

"Grober, Cruudriss, II, pt. I, 390. 

(544) 



55 

cribed to John Garland. 12 This little treatise offered the besl 
possible materials for speculations on points of grammar and 
thus may well have been esteemed by the masters and students al 
Perpignan who held disputations on grammar two or three times 
a week. 13 At Toulouse lectures were also given "de Historii-s 
Alexandri" which probably signifies the Alexandreis of Gautier 
of Lille, the popular epic poem on the deeds of Alexander the 
Great. 14 . 

Thus at these southern universities, not only was technical 
grammar taught better than elsewhere, but in connection with it 
more literature was read than at any other university. 13 To be 
sure, it is a sad comment on the neglect of the ancient classics 
that adores should now designate such books as have been de- 
scribed, lint it was better to read them than none at all. 16 In 
addition, the course in grammar included Metrificatura, the art of 
composition in verse; also music and Compotus, the art of reckon- 
ing church festivals, which was a relic of the old quadrivium. 

The most striking fact about grammar at these universities 
of southern France is that it constituted a separate faculty at 
some of them and that they often granted degrees in grammar. 

"Haureau, in Histoire Litteraire de la France, XXXII. 463-66. Sec however 
Liebl. Die Disticha Cornuti, 35. Liebl prints the Distigium. Also found in Wright, 
A Volume of Vocabularies. 

"Liebl, Die Disticha Cornuti, 27, note, points out that the Cornutus probably was 
treated in the schools in like manner as Cato. 

"See above, p. 24. 

"Denifle, Die Universitaten, I, 75S, n. 19, says that the last trace of adores of 
any description at medieval universities is found at Palencia in 1220. He evidently 
entirely overlooked what we have learned about Toulouse and Perpignan. 

'"It may seem strange that an elementary book like Cato should be read at a 
university. At some of these southern institutions, however, the students were 
very young. Thus at Toulouse the rules of one college provided that no one under 
eight or above twenty-five years of age could be admitted ( Founder, Statuts, I, 
553 A. D. 1337.). All scholars above ten years were obliged to take an oath of 
obedience to the rector (Founder, Statuts, I, 472 [XVII] A. D. 1311.). A college 
at Cahors placed the minimum age for entrance at nine years ( Founder, Statuts. 
II, 562 A. D. 1371.). 

(545) 



56 

In the circular letter which issued from the new University of 
Toulouse iu 1229, a distinction was already made between "logi- 
cians teaching liberal arts" and mere grammarians. 17 Likewise. 
in the document providing for the salaries of the various masters 
tin 1 same distinction was made between masters of arts and those 
of grammar. 18 

In 1309 the faculty of arts at Toulouse drew up an elaborate 
program of studies without reference to grammar. 19 xV little 
later, in 1328, by a general convocation of the whole university, 
the lectures of the masters of grammar were separately regulated 
as we have seen. 2 " Evidently the masters of grammar were 
quite distinct from those of arts. A statute of 1329 actually men- 
tions a faculty of grammar. 21 The same statute gave the masters 
in grammar a monopoly of the teaching of their branch in the 
city of Toulouse. Henceforth no pedagogi as they are called were 
to teach in Toulouse or its suburbs those books which masters in 
grammar were accustomed to use, namely the Doctrinale, Ebrar- 
dutt, Alexander and Priscianus, unless they had first obtained a 
license from the proper authorities. This shows the importance 
of grammar at the university and at the same time the organiza- 
tion of the faculty of grammar into a body of authority. 22 

After the full development of the system of degrees the 
three grades were, bachelor, licentiate, and master. 23 All these 

"Logici liberalibus in artibus tyrones Aristotelis eruderant, grammatici bal- 
butientium lingua in analogiam effigiant." Fournier, Statuts, I. 440; Dcniflc et 
Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 130. 

""singuli magistri artium habebunt viginti marcas usque ad decennium similiter 
annuatim; uterquc magistrorum artis grammatice habebit similiter annuatim decern 
marcas usque ad decennium." Fournier, Statuts, I. 441, (A. D. 1229). 

"'See Appendix I. The only grammatical book mentioned was Priscianus minor 
which for some reason or other was not taught by professors of grammar. 

= "See above, p. 50. 

= '"Bertrnndum de Verniolis. magistrum in grammatica et in artibus, actu 
[legens] in grammatica facilitate. " Fournier, Statuts, I, 502. 

"Molinier, in Devic et Vaissette, Histoire de Languedoc, VII. 603, says that the 
faculty of arts at Toulouse included grammar, logic, and medicine. The statutes 
do not bear this out. 

"■"See Rashdall, Universities, I, 443-462, and index for these words. 

(546) 



57 

were conferrred by the faculty of grammar at Toulouse at Ieasl 
as early as the first half of the fourteenth century. 

Masters in grammar were mentioned as early as 1229 24 hut 
that scarcely justifies the conclusion that a regular master's 
degree in the subject was conferred at that early date. Prob- 
ably at that time it was merely a title assumed without the form- 
alities atteudaut upon the taking of degrees. But when the fac- 
ulty of grammar had taken definite shape in the fourteenth cen- 
tury regular degrees in that subject were granted at Toulouse. 
The license is plainly mentioned in a statute of the year 1311. 25 
Another dated 1329 speaks of licentiates in grammar coming up to 
make their principium, 26 . the solemn entrance into the master- 
ship. 27 Masters in grammar are frequently met with. We have 
seen that they alone could confer on pedagogi of Toulouse the li- 
cense to teach. The bachelor's degree in grammar was also given 
as early as 1328. In the program of that year mention is made 
of a "principal bachelor" in grammar who was to conduct recita 
tions on the lectures which the masters had given. 2N A statute 
of the following year again distinctly refers to bachelors in 
grammar. 21 ' This is enough to show that at Toulouse, as early 
as the beginning of the fourteenth century, there was a regular 
succession of degrees in grammar — bachelor, licentiate, master.'" 

"'See above, p. 50. 

25 "et tunc unusquisque licentiandus dare tenehitur, in die licentie sue. si sit 
grammaticus, artista vel medicus x solidos." Fournier, Statuts, I, 47-? (XXVII). 

"For this ceremony as conducted at Paris in conferring the mastership of arts, 
etc., see Rashdall, Universities, I, 286. 

""quod de cetero nullus licentiatus vel licentiandus tarn in artibus quarn in 
grammatica sit ausus sum solempne principium facere nisi sub magistro sub quo 
licentiatus extiterit." Fournier, Stututs I, 502. 

^See above, p. 51. 

M "Que sub juramento volumus tain per magistros quarn magistrandos et 
scholares et bacallarios et licentiatos tarn in artibus quarn in grammatica . . . obser 
vari." Fournier, Statuts, I, 503. 

"Rashdall, Universities, II. 241, n. 2, says: "The Stat, of 142S [of the Uni- 
versity of Vienna] is the earliest allusion to such degrees [in grammar] that I have 
been able to find in any University X'ortb of the Alps." Then, p. 598, he goes into 
a full discussion of degrees in grammar at Oxford in the fifteenth and sixteenth 
centuries. Evidently Rashdall did not realize the importance of grammar at the 

(547) 



58 

Various scattered bits of evidence render it altogether likely 
that other universities in southern France had distinct faculties 
of grammar and conferred degrees in that subject just as at 
Toulouse. At Perpignan there were bachelors in grammar who 
repeated the lectures of the masters, 31 and we have seen that cer- 
tain bachelors taught the accustomed "authors." At Orange, in 
13(55, express mention was made of a faculty of grammar. 32 
Likewise at Cahors in 13<i5 we read of masters in that art; so 
again in 1367. 33 Towards the close of the fourteenth century 
Avignon must have had a flourishing department of grammar for 
in two lists of students sent to the Pope in 1394 appear the names 
of 115 students in arts and 79 in grammar. 34 Apparently all 
these universities looked to Toulouse as a model. 

Thus, at a time when grammar was scarcely considered as a 
serious part of university work at Paris, it was in a most flour 
ishing condition at Toulouse and other universities of southern 
France. Nothing could be more instructive than a list of stu- 
dents of Toulouse sent to the Pope in 1378. 35 As against only 
246 students in arts there were 295 in grammar. There is every 
leason to believe that the latter devoted their whole time to 

universities of southern France. On p. 163, n. 3, he wrote: "Grammar [at Tou- 
louse] is always treated as a distinct Faculty, though scholars of the faculty were 
often children under ten;" but he makes no more of this and says nothing what- 
ever of degrees in grammar at Toulouse. He looked to Germany and England 
to find the first evidences of degrees in grammar as late as the fifteenth and six. 
teenth centuries, whereas in the south of France such degrees were already con- 
ferred early in the fourteenth. 

For an account of the faculty of grammar at Cambridge and Oxford see also 
Kaufmann, Geschichte dcr Deutschen Universitaten T, 320, n. 1. 

"'"Baccalarii tarn in gramatica quam in logica teneantur repetere in propriis 
personis ordinarios lectiones lectas in scolis publicis a magistris eorumdum." Four- 
nier. Statuts, II, 6;o (XXV-4). 

" : "et alii sufficientes magistri in facilitate grammatice actu legunt." Fournier, 
Slat uts. II, 718. 

"Fournier, Statuts, II, 546, 547. 
3J Fournier, Statuts, II, 361-69. 
"'Fournier, Statuts, I, 646-53. 



(548) 



59 

some such a course as was outlined in 1328. 30 This shows that 
the faculty of grammar at Toulouse had grown steadily in im- 
portance. That is also illustrated by the outcome of a quarrel 
which arose in 1420 between two regent masters in grammar ami 
a certain master in arts teaching logic.'' 7 The latter held that 
he had a right to lecture on Priscianus minor without a license 
from the regent masters in grammar, notwithstanding the statute 
of 1329 concerning the licensing of pedagogi. Two arbiters were 
appointed and they decided that the aforesaid master of arts 
might lecture on Priscianus minor because by the statute of 1309 
the masters in arts had been given the right to lecture on that one 
grammatical book; 38 but no one, be he even a master of arts, had a 
right to teach the Doctrinale, Ebrardus, Alexander and Priscianus 
major without a license from the regent masters in grammar. 
Any other grammatical books, except those sacred four, might 
be taught freely without a license. 

A similar quarrel arose in 1489 between two regent masters, 
one in grammar, the other in arts. 39 The master in arts had 
presumed to lecture on the Doctrinale, Ebrardus, etc., in his own 
house. The regent master in grammar complained of this. 
Again it was decided, after referring to the old provisions of 1309, 
132S and 1329, that every master in arts or logic must secure a 
license before he might lecture on these four books mentioned in 
the ancient statutes. 

Strange spectacle in a medieval university ! Masters in the 
logic of the mighty Aristotle going a-begging for permission to 
teach the Doctrinale] Here at least the palm which grammar 
had lost in the twelfth century was once more yielded to her 
by logic. But grammar was no longer what she had been even 
in those latter days when she gathered many classical authors 
about her under the walls of Orleans and fought a losing fight 

"At Perpignan (1393) a student is named who had studied grammar four 
years (Fournier, Statuts, II, 682) ; at Avignon (1394) one who had studied it 
three years (Fournier, Statuts, II, 362 [86.] 1. 

"Fournier, Statuts, I, 770. 

38 See above, p. 56, n. 19 ; and Appendix I. 

"Fournier, Statuts, I, 873. 

(549) 



60 

against logic of Paris in the "Battle of the Seven Arts." 4 " In 
spite of the growing' interest in grammar in southern France there 
was no improvement in method. When humanism was fairly 
seething all about them, when it would have been so easy to im- 
prove grammatical instruction by again reading the ancient 
poets and historians, as Quintilian and Rabanus Maurus and 
John of Salisbury had advocated, these universities clung pas 
sionately to the time-worn Doctrinale and Oraecismus which even 
a John Garland had condemned in the thirteenth century. 
Strange conservatism of the schools! 



As we approach the period of Petrarch our curiosity is 
naturally aroused to see whether any universities took part in the 
revival of learning and whether grammatical instruction was im- 
proved anywhere by a deeper study of philology and a better ap- 
preciation of classical literature. 

We look first to Italy. In 1321 at Bologna the study of 
formal rhetoric was revived. A professor taught Cicero and at 
the same time the art of Latin composition including letter writ- 
ing. 41 In the same year the students petitioned for a doctor in 
poetry. Accordingly, Antonio de Virgilio was appointed at a 
large salary to lecture on Virgil, Statins, Lucan and Ovid. 42 
Three years later a salary was bestowed upon a certain master 
Yitale, doctor in grammar, to lecture on Cicero and the Metamor- 
phoses of Ovid. 43 This was a good beginning along those lines 
of reform which Petrarch was soon to advocate; hut the fair 
promise had no fulfillment. After this one gleam of the revival 
of classical letters at the University of Bologna the darkness 
settled down again. Statutes of the beginning of the fifteenth 
century reveal that Cicero was still the basis of instruction in 
rhetoric; 44 but that is all. What was true of Bologna was also 

'"See above, p. 19. 

"Ghirardacci, Delia Historia di Bologna, II, 17. 

"Ghirardacci, Delia Historia di Bologna, II, 19. 

"Ghirardacci, Delia Historia di Bologna, II, 56. 

"Malagola, Statuti dellc Univcrsitd e dei Collegt aello Studio Bolognese, 48S. 

(550) 



61 

generally true of other Italian universities. 4 "' In tracing the 
history of the revival of learning in Italy the great universities 
may be passed by almost without notice. 

At the universities of England and Germany the story is 
much the same. At Oxford, in 1431, the following books were 
recommended for rhetoric: the rhetorics of Aristotle and Cicero, 
Ovid's Metamorphoses and the "Poetria Virgilii." These how- 
ever were but minor elements of the course in arts which still bore 
the general features of the conventional thirtenth century course. 40 
Even at the newer German universities, which were not so fast 
rooted in tradition, the humanistic tendencies were slow to gain 
entrance. 47 

At Paris there was a sporadic revival of classical literature 
about the middle of the fourteenth century quite independent of 
that in Italy. The first indication of a new spirit was the French 
translation of Livy and other classics by Pierre Bersuire. 48 Jean 
de Montreuil (b. 1354) was the first real humanist in France. 4 '- 1 
Pierre d'Ailly (1350-1420), who with his humanistically inclined 
friend Gerson, 50 represented the University of Paris at the 
Council of Constance, has left a very interesting list of authors 
which were known at Paris at the end of the fourteenth century. 
Pierre writes as if he had actually received instruction in the 
works of the following: Virgil, Ovid, Horace/ Juvenal, Seneca, 
Terence, Sallust, Quintilian, Livy, Valerius Maximus, Martial 
and Macrobius. 51 

''''See e. g. what Voigt, Die Jl'iedcrbelebung des Classischen Alterthums, I, 
says about Florence (p. 339) and Pavia (p. 515). See also Rashdall, Universities, 

II. 37, 49- 

"Rashdall, Universities, II, 45;. 

"Kaufman, Geschichte der Deutschen Universitaten, II, 480-82; 509. 

"Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularitcm, III. Introductio, xi ; also 3-7. He is men- 
tioned as a student at Paris in 1351. 

,9 Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, II. 344; Sandys, A History of Classical Scholar- 
ship, II, 166. 

™Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, II. 343. 

""'In primo scole philosophorum ingressu, ait, sermocinalium scientiarum, 
grammatice videlicet et logicc, rhetorice et poetice artis doctores invenio, qui omnes 
juxta sue facultatem doctrine michi aliquid afferunt ; alii grammaticalia Prisciani 

(551) 



In 1307 Petrarch, in a letter to Pope Urban V, had derided 
the French as barbarians among whom there could be no orators 
or poets. This taunt was immediately answered by a certain 
Jean de Ilesdin wlio in his letter gave evidence of a great deal of 
classical learning."'- In that same letter Petrarch had also made 
the milder statement that oratory and poetry were taught more 
extensively in Italy than in any other country. Even against 
this a younger French humanist, Nicolas de Clemanges ( 13IJ0- 
1140?), protested somewhat later in these words: "I answer 
that they are also taught quite generally elsewhere. I myself 
have often seen that the rhetorics of Cicero and Aristotle were 
read at the University of Paris publicly and privately; likewise 
Virgil, the greatest of poets, and Terence." 33 Denitle has shown 
how clearly the hands of the French humanists can he traced in 
the improved style of the documents which emanated from the 
university at this time."' 4 All the writings of Nicolas are dis- 
tinguished by a most excellent style. Later in life however lie 
turned away from the classical studies of his youth and devoted 
himself wholly to theology. In his altered mood he often warned 
Jean de Montrenil not to allow himself to he carried away by 
the worship of Apollo and the mnses. 55 

Just as Nicolas de Clemanges deserted the ancient authors 
whom he had loved in his youth, so in the fifteenth century the 

rudiments, alii logicalia Aristotelis argumenta, alii rhetorica Tullii blandimentn. 
alii poetica integumenta Virgilii, nee solum ista, quinymmo Ovidii presentant fabu- 
las, Fulgentii Mithologias, Odas Oratii, Ormestas Orosii, Juvenalis Satiras, Senece 
Tragedias, Comedias Therentii, Invectivas Salustii, Sydonii Epistolas, Cassiodori 
Formulas, Declamationes Quintiliani, Decades Titi Livii, Valerii [Maximi] Epytho- 
mata, Marcialis Epygrammata, Centones Omeri, Saturnalia Macrobii, et generaliter 
singula, que vel suavis liram Rhetorice, vel gravis Poetrie musam resonant." 
Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, III, Introductio, xi-xii. 

S! Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, II, 333. 

ra "Respondeo id in aliis partibus etiam plerumque fieri. Vidi ego in studio 
Parisiaco sepe Tullianam publice legi rbetoricam, sepe item privatim, nonnunquam 
etiam Aristotelicam, poeteque summi et optimi Virgilius atque Terentius ill ic etiam 
sepe leguntur." Denifle et Cbatelain, Chartularium, III, Introductio, xi. 

"Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, III, Introductio, xii. 

M Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, II, 348, 355. 

(552) 



63 

University of Paris slipped back into the old rut and the human- 
istic movement came to a sudden end. Even before 1400, the 
letters and statutes (if the university were again written in a 
deplorable style. In the second half of the fifteenth century 
William Fichet, who was rector of the university in 14l>7, stood 
forth as a rather solitary champion of good Latin and of the 
classics. In the morning he taught theology and philosophy, in 
the afternoon rhetoric and the humanities. His manual on rhet- 
oric was an epoch-making book in France. 50 He saw a future 
full of promise. Writing to a friend in 1472 he described how 
everybody at Paris had been ignorant of Cicero and of good Latin 
when he came to the University, but that now a new epoch had 
begun. That year Fichet left for Italy and with him departed 
the enthusiasm for belles lettres. 57 It is said that the theologian 
Dullardus was wont to say to Fichet: "The better grammarian 
you are, the worse dialectician and theologian." 58 An edict of 
king Louis XI in 1473 recalled to the masters and students of 
Paris that Pope Gregory the Great had long ago warned the 
youth against the sweet bewitching orations of Cicero, which 
warning, the king thought, should still be heeded. 59 As a whole 
the university did give heed and closed its doors to the influences 
from Italy. At Paris the full tide of humanism did not set in 
until the foundation of the College de France in 1530. i; " 

Very little can be said about the universities of southern 
France in spite of the fact that formal grammar became more 
and more popular there. At Perpignan, towards the close of the 
fourteenth century, "poets" are mentioned in addition to gram- 

'"'"Larousse, Grand Dictionnaire. 

"Lavisse, Histoire de France, IV, pt. 2, 443. 

M "quanto eris melior grammaticus, tanto pejor dialecticus et theologus", 
Thurot, De Alex, de Villa Dei Doctrinali, 61. 

'"Norden, Die Antike Kunstprosa, II. 726, note. 

""Lavisse, Histoire de France, V, pt. 1, 291-95. For sporadic attempts to in- 
troduce the study of Greek and oriental languages see Thurot, De V Organisation 
de I'Enseignement dans I'Universite dc Paris, 85. 



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64 

marians and artists. 1 ' 1 About the same time, in an inventory 
of the goods of a student of the same university are listed a copy 
of Dante, several works of Ovid and Sallust. 62 In a similar in- 
ventory of the goods of a student at Avignon, dated 1459, appear 
various works of Ovid, copies of Virgil, Juvenal and Seneca and 
the Famous Women of Hoccaecio. 03 Near the close of the fif- 
teenth century, in 149(5, we at length come upon a true human- 
istic course in arts at the University of Montpellier. It is an 
outline of work which was offered by John Dionysius, a master 
of arts. 04 

""quod nulhts phisicus, poeta, gramaticus vel artista, exceptis pueris qui 
nonduni etatis mil- annum XIIII compleverunt," etc. Fournier, Statuts, II, 674 
I XXXV] (1380 1390?). 

* 2 Fournier, Statuts. II, 690. 
"Fournier, Statuts, II, 453-58. 

""Secuntur libri quos proponit Johannes Dionisius, magister artium, inter - 
pretari. 

In philosophia : 
Gorgium in octo libris phisicorum, vel, si melius videatur, in liiis qui sunt 
De generatione, De anima metheorum. [sic. Probably should read, De anima, 
Metheorum.] 

In logica : 
Parvum Gorgium, declarationibus magistri Johannis Dorp, Guillermi Okam, 
Petri de Alhaco, Alberii de Saxonia adhibitis. 

In gramaticalibus : 

Alexandrum in quattuor partibus, commento, ex hiis que a Laurentio de Valla, 
Sericio, Prisciano, Donato assistuntur [adhibito.] 

In arte oratoria : 

Terentium ante prandium, ut consuevit ; vespere, Virgilium in Eneyde, vel 
Julium De officiis, Juvenalem, Persum, secundum optionem dominorum consuluni 
et audientium capacitatem. 

Item, quamcumque interpretetur, vult Perotum interpretari De dictandis 
epistolis, tamquam maxime necessarium juvenibus, et sine quo quemquam juvenum 
perquam difficile est congrue loqui. 

Item, vult habere baccallarium expertum et expertissimum quern invenire 
poterit in gramaticalibus. qui insistat in formandis partibus, in declinationibus 
dictionum, et aliis moribus, lectionibus autorum, et in proverbiis componendis, et 
leget Boecium. 

Quumque ipse Dyonisius velit, vi assuetus est in suis redditionibus Terentii. 

554) 



65 

In philosophy and logic, instead of a long list of Aristotle's 
works, we find what seem to be mere commentaries on his works 
on Physics, The Soul and Meteorics by a certain George, prob- 
ably George of Trebizond (c, 1395-1484) together with a book 
on logic perhaps by the same author.' 15 In addition, there are 
to be read the works of William Ockham, together with his fol- 
lowers John Dorp, Pierre d'Ailly and Albert of Saxony who rev- 
olutionized scholastic thought in the fourteenth century.''' 
Grammar was still to be taught from the Doctrinale of Alexander 
of Villedieu although by this time humanists in Italy and Ger- 
many were waging bitter war against it. 117 Dionysius however 
proposed to supplement it from Priscian and Donatus and also 
from the treatises of Laurentius Valla who had recently attacked 
violently the Latinity of scholasticism. 88 The chief innovation 
in this program was the stress laid upon the ars oratoria, which 
was broadly the art of teaching elegance in speaking and writing 
Latin. Terence, Virgil, Cicero, Juvenal and Boethius were pro- 
posed as a basis for this work, as well as Perotus on the art of 
letter-writing. 69 The Latin language was to be taught by direct 
methods, by dwelling upon the parts of speech, on declensions, 
conjugations and correct reading of the authors. 70 

Virgilii et Julii nullam dictionem intellectu difficilem pretermittere, quin declinet 
vel conjuget. 

Item, in redditionibus Peroti dictare epistolas, ut consuetum est, nam ipsa 
cpistolarum dictatio maximum est proverbiorum componendorum exercitium." 
Fournier, Statuts, II, 278. 

"For George of Trebizond, one of the staunchest defenders of Aristotelianism 
against the then prevalent Platonism, see Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, II, 137-143, 
and M. de Wulf, Histoire de la Philosophie Medievale, 49S, 500. 

"For a discussion of "Ockhamism" see M. de Wulf, Histoire de la Philosophie 
Medievale. 444-59. 

° 7 Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, lxxxiii. 

"I cannot identify "Sericius." Is it Sulpicius? 

ro "Perotus" is probably Xiccolo Perotti (1430-14S0), one of the most celebrated 
humanists of his century. Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, II, 133-137. 

"Contrast with this program one which was drawn up in 1494 for the northern 
University of Angers, and which is still the old stereotyped course very similar 
to that of Paris in the thirteenth century or to that of Toulouse outlined in Ap 
pendix I. Fournier, Statuts, I, 427. 

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66 

This particular program, coming so late in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, is permeated with a genuine humanistic flavor; but it is 
an almost isolated exception which proves the rule that the med- 
ieval universities had very little to do with the humanistic move- 
ment of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 



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CHAPTER III. 

Rhetoric, the "Business Course'' at Medieval Universities 

Of all the seven liberal arts, rhetoric met with the strangest 
vicissitudes at medieval universities. In Roman times it had 
been primarily the art of eloquence and as such had had a 
great vogue, for by means of it a man might rise to eminence as 
a public speaker in forum or Senate. Throughout the Middle 
Ages there never was a great demand for able public speakers 
and therefore rhetoric in the old sense of the word was systemat- 
ically neglected. Some realized that the rules of eloquence might 
aid the preacher in the pulpit ; but the general opinion was that 
the word of God should be preached plainly and simply and did 
not need the embellishment of the rhetoricians. ( Then again, 
pi-caching never became very important in the service of the 
Church until the thirteenth century. When dialectics had risen 
to great importance at universities there was enough speaking 
in public but the disputations of students and masters were ap- 
plauded for acuteness of the reasoning and not for elegance of 
diction. In regard to universities of law the same may be said 
about the pleadings of the lawyers. 

Deprived almost absolutely of its most important function, 
that of training for eloquence, rhetoric lost much of its individ- 
uality. Its doctrines were often merged with those of gram- 
mar; thus, in the Graecismus of Eberhard there is a chapter on 
the colore* rhetoricV Frequently it is difficult to draw the 
line between grammatical and rhetorical instruction. At best 
the latter was usually but a branch auxiliary to grammar and 
dialectic. 

It is not surprising therefore to find that very little of the 
old formal medieval rhetoric was taught at the universities. At 

'Appuhn, Das Trivium, 86. 

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68 

the end of the twelfth century, it was more popular at Paris than 
it was to be later when the university was fully developed. Ger- 
ald of Barri says that as a student at Paris (c. 1170) he distin- 
guished himself especially in rhetoric. 2 Seven years later, he 
lectured there on canon law aud ascribed his success partly to 
the fact that he employed rhetorical finish in his delivery. 3 The 
anonymous vocabulary, Sacerdos ad altare accessurus, 4 names 
the following books for rhetoric: Cicero's De Inventione, Dc 
Oratore, and the pseudo Ciceronian ad Herenniumj <2uintilian's 
Institutes and the pseudo Quintilian Declamationes (or ('tut sue). 7 ' 
This is a rather remarkable program for rhetoric. Even the 
course at Chartres, when the schools there were at the height of 
their fame, did not offer so much solid rhetorical instruction. 6 
Quintilian's Institute* are not often met with in the schools of 
the [Middle Ages. 

The earliest statute (1215) prescribing work at the Uni- 
versity of Paris already indicates that rhetoric would occupy 
but an inferior place in the arts course. It was to be read on 
festival days and the only books mentioned are the fourth book 
of the Topics of Boethius and the Barbarismus. 1 Later statutes 

! Giraldus Cambrensis, De rebus a sc gestis, ed. Brewer, I, 23. 

8 "Adeo namque vivas legum et canonum rationes introductas rhetoricis per- 
suasionibus adjuvabat; adeoque tarn verborum schematibus atque coloribus quam 
sententiarum medullis causas adornabat, dictaque philosophorum et auctorum 
miro artificio inserta locis congruis adaptabat." Dc rebus a sc gestis, ed. Brewer, 
I. 45- 

4 See above, p. 15. 

""In rethorica educandus legat primam Tulii retboricam et librum ad Herren- 
ium et Tullium de oratore et causas Quintiliani et Quintilianum de oratoris in- 
stitutione." Gonville and Cains College MS. 385, p. 53. Now printed, Raskins, 
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XX, 92. 

"Clerval, Lcs Ecolcs dc Chartres, 222. The books mentioned are: (1) Cicer- 
onis, Dc inventione rhetorica libri 2; (2) Rhetoric orum ad Herennium libri 4; 
(3) Ciecronis De partitione oratorio dialogus: (4) J. Severiani Syntoiuata ac 
precepta artis rhetoricae; (5) Capellae Dc rhetorica libri 5. See however p. 233. 

7 "Non legant in festivis diebus nisi Philosophos et Rhetoricas et Quadruvalia 
et Barbarismum, et Ethicam, si placet; et quartum Topicorum." Denifle et Chate- 
lain, Chartularium, I, 78. For the Barbarismus see above, p. 33. Since its sub- 
ject matter was the figures of speech it was usually classed under rhetoric. In the 

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69 

add nothing; however it is possible and even probable that in 
this, as well as in all subjects, books were read which are not 
mentioned in the statutes. In the second half of the fourteenth 
century the study of rhetoric was revived as we have learned 
from Nicolas of Clemanges. 8 On the whole however it is safe 
to say that formal rhetoric was as badly neglected at Paris as was 
grammar. 

The same was even more true in other French universities. 
At Toulouse, for example, where a good deal of stress was laid on 
grammar, not a trace can be found of instruction in old-fash 
ioned rhetoric. 

At Bologna and in Italy generally it suffered especially in 
(he thirteenth century, as we shall see, but began to prosper 
again early in the fourteenth. The establishment of a special 
chair in rhetoric at Bologna in 1321 has been noted. 9 The in- 
formation in the statutes is very meagre but we learn that early 
in the fifteenth century there were distinct examinations and 
graduations in rhetoric. The books mentioned are the De Xnven- 
tione of Cicero, the pseudo Ciceronian ail Herennium and a Com- 
pendium by Fra Guidotto of Bologna. 10 

At Oxford, at about the same time (1431), the Rhetoric of 

Baltic of the Seven Arts the Barbarismus is spoken of as having deserted the 
camp of Grammar to fight on the side of Logic : 

"dant Barbarime 
Qui chevauchoit soi cinquantime. 
S'ert il homme lige Gramaire 
Des meillors genz dc son aumaire, 
Mes il maintenoit cele guerre, 
Qu'el pais Logir|ue avoit terre. 
Par trahison estoit tornez 
Por ce qu'il ert de Poitou nez." 
T'enri d'Andeli, Bataille des .I'll. Ars, vv. 232-239. Heron. Oeuvres de Henri 
d'Andeli, 51-52. 

"See above, p. 62. 
"See above, p. 60. 

"Malagola, Statuti delle Universitd e dei Coltegi delta Studio Bolognese, 4SS, 
and note 3. 



(559) 



70 

Aristotle, the fourth book of the Topics of Boethius and the Nova 
Bhetorica of Cicero ( probably ad Herennium) were read. 11 

There can remain no doubt that the study of formal rhetoric 
did not flourish at the universities even as much as it had done 
in the best schools of the early Middle Ages. 



But there was one phase of rhetoric which was developed in 
a remarkable way at the universities. The art of writing well 
and ornately had always constituted a part of rhetoric although 
the Roman manuals had naturally subordinated it to the art of 
speaking. Although orators did not flourish in the Middle Ages 
there were better opportunities for a man skillful iu the use of 
the pen, that is, one who could write correctly letters and other 
important documents. Now throughout the earlier Middle Ages 
the elements of the Roman law were taught as a part of rhetoric 
in which a distinction had always been made between the genus 
demonstrativum, deliberativum and iudiciale. 12 When law be- 
came an independent and important branch of learning at the 
universities and thus broke loose entirely from rhetoric, it re- 
acted upon and helped to develop the art of writing until that too 
became a separate branch of education quite distinct from the 
old formal rhetoric. This new art became known as the dicta men 
prasaicum or ars dicta minis, and was recognized at some uni- 
versities as a distinct branch of instruction. So important did 
it become that in some places it usurped the whole field of rhetoric 
and often was simply called by that name. 13 

In its earliest and widest sense dictamen signified the art of 
composition, both in prose and poetry. 14 As a rule, three kinds of 
composition were distinguished, metric verse, rhythmic verse, 

"Rashdall, Universities, II, 457. 

"Fitting, Die Anfange der Rechtsschule at Bologna, 15. 

"For bibliographies on the subject see Haskins, "Life of Medieval Students," 
Amer. Hist. Rev. Ill, 204, n. 2; Abelson, The Seven Liberal Arts. 61. n. 1 ; Molinier, 
Sources de I'Histoire dc France, II, 204. 

"Thurot, Notices ct Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, 91, and note 3. 

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71 

and prose. 15 At all times such exercises in composition, espe- 
cially in verse, had formed a part of grammatical and rhetorical 
instruction, 1G but in au age when few could write at all the 
practical value of the dicta men prosaicum, which consisted main- 
ly iu writing letters and documents, soon asserted itself. 

In the early centuries of the Middle Ages numerous collec- 
tions of model letters and public documents were in common 
use. ]; It is sufficient to mention the Variae of Cassiodorus of 
which the sixth and seventh books were actually designed to 
present models, and the famous Formulae Marculfi of the seventh 
century. The art of drawing up documents with the help of such 
collections had been taught in some monastery and cathedral 
schools and in the various chanceries. It was not, however, until 
the latter half of the eleventh century that this art was regarded 
as a distinct discipline. 

The ars dicta minis as a separate branch of instruction had 
its origin in Italy. There, and especially in Lombardy, the study 
of grammar and rhetoric and the schools in which they were taught 
bad had a continuous existence, with occasional periods of 
bloom. 18 The growing business in the ecclesiastical and lay chan- 
ceries helped to develop and support the new art of dictamen. In 
Italy the notaries had always been largely laymen and their busi- 
ness had been one of profit and honor. 10 Thus a widespread in- 
terest was won for the new ars dictaminis which more and more 
adapted itself to the practical needs of the professional notary. 
The investiture struggle greatly increased the business of the 

I! "Dictaminum autetn alia sunt metrics, alia rithmica, alia prosaica," Alberici 
cassinensis rationes dictandi. Rockinger, Brief stellcr, I, 9. 

During the later Middle Ages and until the rise of humanism, rhythmic 
signified rhymed verse whereas metric was blank verse. Zarncke, "Zwei Mittel- 
alterliche Abhandlungen iiber den Ban rythmischer Verse," in Berichte . . . der 
k Sachsischen Gesellschaft dcr Wissenschaften, Lpz. (1871), XXIII. 35. 

"Specht. Geschichte dcs Unterrichtswesens, 113. 

"Bresslau, Urkundenlehre, T. 608. 

"Rockinger, "Uber die Ars dictandi und die Summae dictaminum in Italien" 
in Sitsungsberichte dcr k. k. .Head. Miinchen (1861), I, 103 and Giesebrecht, De 
Litterarum Studiis ufud Italos. 

"Bresslau, Urkundenlehre, I, 624. 

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72 

papa) curia, the imperial chancery and those of the great clerics. 
The growing autonomy of the Italian city-states also necessitated 
much correspondence between city and city and between the 
cities and the Emperor and the Pope. To all tliis must be added 
the potent influence of the study of Roman law and the rise of 
the great law universities. The growing ars dictaminis soon lie- 
came the handmaid of law and the hand-books of <!it-t<i mat gave 
an increasing amount of space to the rides for drawing up legal 
papers and even to the elementary principles of law. Irnerius, 
the first famous professor of Roman law at Bologna, wrote a 
tract, now lost, for the use of notaries, the Formularius Tabel- 
Uonum. 20 It is not surprising, therefore, to find that the ars dic- 
taminis originated in Italy and that it reached its fullest develop- 
ment at Bologna. 

Alberich of Monte-Cassino, who lived in that famous monas- 
tery in the second half of the eleventh century, may be consid- 
ered as the founder of the new art. Before his time there had 
been collections of letters and formularies enough, but they con- 
sisted of mere models with scarcely any comments or explana- 
tions. 21 The books of Alberich were the first real manuals of 
instruction in the art of writing letters and official acts.-- His 
Rationes <lic/<iiiili taught the famous division of a letter into five 
parts, salutatio, benevolentiae capiatio, miiT<ili<>. petitio, con- 
clusio. This doctrine was accepted and elaborated by all future 
writers and teachers and did much to give f irm and substance to 
(lie new art. The books of Alberich also included a mass of 
grammatical and rhetorical instruction, always, however, with 
due regard to practical needs. Scarcely any complete letters were 
as yet given as models for illustration; only brief extracts were 
inserted here and there to illustrate particular points. His 
books were of value chiefly for private correspondence. The 
rules and percepts for drawing up privileges of popes and kings 

M Rockinger, "Uber die Ars Dictandi," 120. 

"Bresslau, Urkundenlehre, 624. 

=! Rockinger, Briefsteller, T, Einlcitung, xxxii and passim. Extracts from two 
of Alberich's works, the Rationes dictandi and the Breviarium dc dictaininc arc 
here printed, pp. 9-46. 

(562, 



73 

were somewhat faulty, showing thai the author had but a very 
.superficial knowledge about such official acts. 

After Alberich there came a regular succession of writers 
aud teachers of the ars dictaminis in Italy and elsewhere. The 
art was modified and adapted to growing needs, in the first 
place, the form of the manuals was altered. More attention was 
devoted to the illustrative material; every manual now sought to 
give a fair number of examples of each form of correspondence 
and each official act. Such examples were drawn from earlier 
formularies, from archives and chanceries, or were simply in- 
vented. Then it became customary to divide a manual into two 
parts: first, a discussion of the theory aud rules of the art, and 
second, a collection of models, classified according to their con- 
tent. There was infinite variety in the form of the various man- 
uals, depending on their particular purpose, and on the caprice 
of their authors. 

Later manuals considered more and more the practical 
needs of the lay and ecclesiastical chanceries and thus an in- 
creased amount of space was given to purely official acts of all 
kinds. The object was to train men for lucrative positions at 
the Roman curia, the courts of kings and princes and higher 
ecclesiastics or in the chanceries of the cities. Such work re- 
quired considerable special training. It was necessary to learn 
the charter hand which at all times was different from (lie ordi- 
nary book-hand ;'- :i also the rules of the cursus or the rhythmic 
cadence of phrases employed in drawing up important acts.'-' 
The cursus was revived at the papal curia in the twelfth century 
and soon spread from there to the chanceries of cardinals, arch- 
bishops, bishops and even to lay courts. All these matters were 

"'"alia enim maims requiritur in quaternis scribendis et alia in epistolis. plures 
mini scriptores, qui linnam et competentem fnrmant literam in quaternis, nullo 
modo vel vix sciunt habilitare manum ail epistolas scribendas." Conrad de Mure, 
Summa de uric prosandi; Rockingcr, Briefsteller, 4.19. Quoted by Giry, Manuel de 
Diplomatique, 513, n. 2. 

J 'Xorden, Die Antike Kunstprosa, IT, 924, gives a good bibliography on the 
subject; see especially, Valois, "Etude sur 1e rhythme des bulles pontificates," in 
Bibl. de YEcole des Chartes, XLTI (188:) 161, 257; Giry, Manuel de Diplomatique. 
455; Bresslau, Urkundenlehre, 5S8; Thurot, Notices ct Extraits, XXI 1, pt. 2, 480. 

(563) 



74 

treated in the textbooks of the ars dictaminis which appeared in 
the later twelfth and in the thirteenth century. The art was be- 
coming eminently practical. It became even more so when it 
adapted itself closely to the rising study of Roman law. Tbe 
manuals devoted an increasing amount of attention to the draw- 
ing up of legal papers and some even contained chapters on the 
theory of law. Thus the Rhetorica novissima of Boncompagno 
begins with a chapter on the origin of law. 23 This process of 
specialization went on until in the thirteenth century text-books 
were written which taughl only such matters as would be es- 
sential to a practising notary. These can no longer be classed 
under ars dictaminis for they are strictly manuals of the ars 
notaria of which more will be said later. 



In Italy, its native soil, the ars dictaminis reached its fullest 
development at the University of Bologna. Although its study 
had been widespread in Italy since the end of the eleventh cen- 
tury, its recorded history as a branch of study at Bologna does 
not begin until about 1200. 26 At that time the Englishman Geof- 
frey of Vinsauf taught the liberal arts there. 27 He is the author 
of the famous Ars Poetria which ranks him anion,"' the best poets 
of the time. 28 While at Bologna he also wrote an Ars dictaminis 
in prose for the use of his students. 29 

The most famous of the masters of the ars dictaminis at Bo- 
logna, and indeed, of all dictatores anywhere, was Boncompagno 

=r 'Rockinger, tiber die Ars dictandi," 138. 

"In the Rationes dictandi prosaice of Hugo of Bologna there are indications 
that the ars dictaminis was already taught as a separate branch at Bologna at 
about this date. Sutter, Aus Lcben und Schriften des M agister Boncompagno, 36: 
Roekinger, Brief stcllcr, I, 70. 

27 Sarti, Dc Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Profcssoribus, I. 599. 

M Saintsbury, History of Criticism. I. 412. 

5 °Sarti, Dc Claris.. ..Prof essoribus, I, 601, believes this work was written be- 
tween 1191-1198. The question is still undecided whether or not there were two 
men named Geoffrey, both from England, both professors of the ars dictaminis, 
and who both spent part of their life in Italy. Langlois, Notices et Extraits, 
XXXV, pt. 2, 409. 

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75 

(c. 11G5 — c. 1240.1.'" He was born near Florence where he re- 
ceived his early training hut he came to Bologna to complete his 
education iii grammar, rhetoric and perhaps in the first principles 
of law. Early in the thirteenth century he was active as a mas- 
ter at the University of Bologna. His position was unique. He 
aspired to be something more than a mere master of grammar 
and therefore concentrated all his attention on the ars dictaminis 
or rhetoric as he called it out and out. No man was ever more 
self-reliant or more ready to sound his own praises than Bon- 
compagno. In his chosen field he acknowledged no predecessor 
claiming that he was the first professor of the art of arts, the 
foster-daughter of law, 31 namely the ars dictammis 32 No doubt 
he exaggerated somewhat for we know that at least Geoffrey of 
Vinsauf had taught the art before Boncompagno wrote the 
words quoted; nevertheless to Boncompagno belongs the credit 
for having raised the new art to such importance that he and 
others after him found it worth while to devote their whole time 
to it. 

He was a prolific writer and almost all he ever wrote per- 
tained to the theory and practice of the ars dictaminis. Modern 
scholars came to know him first through his historcal poem on 
the siege of Ancona. 33 His numerous works on rhetoric did not 
attract attention until recently when it was recognized that Bon- 
compagno's real claim to distinction lies in the fact that he was 
the most famous among the dictatores. His longest and most im- 
portant work is the Rhetorica antiqua which he also called Bon- 
compagnus after his own name. 34 How completely this "rhet- 

*°The most recent important accounts of his life and writings are : Sutter. 
Aus Leben und Schriften des Magister Boncompagno, see bibliography, p. 14 ; 
Gaudenzi, "Sulla Cronologia delle Opere dei Dettatori Bolognesi da Buoncompagno 
a Bene di Lucca," in Bullettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano, Xo. 14 (1895), 85- 

174- 

3, "artium liberalium imperatrix et utriusque iuris alumpna." Boncompagni 
boncompagnus. Rockinger, Briefsteller, I, 129. 

32 Speaking of himself he says: "Cui Florentia dedit initium, et Bononia, initio 
praeeunte doctore, celebre incrementum." De obsid. Ancon., in Muratori, Rer. 
ltd. Script., VI, 946. 

"Liber dc obsidione Ancona, in Muratori, Rer. Ital. Script.. VI, 919-946. 

3 *Extracts of it in Rockinger, Briefsteller, I, 128-174. 

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76 

uric" is devoted to the ars dictaminis may be seen from the con- 
tents of its six books: (ll on student letters, (2) the various 
forms issued by the Roman church, (3) letters sent to The Pope. 
(4 | letters to and from emperors, kings and queens, (5) letters to 
the clergy, (6) letters of noblemen, cities and peoples. 35 This 
work, the author tells us, was read and crowned with laurel at 
Bologna in 1215 before the professors of canon and civil law ami 
a multitude of other doctors and students. In 1226 it was pub- 
lished at Padua before a similar august assembly. 30 That was 
high distinction for a mere treatise on the art of letter writing. 
The tact that it was read and crowned before the faculty of law 
shows how truly the new art was a foster-daughter of law. 

The writings of Boncompagno show very clearly how the ars 
dictaminis became more and more specialized due to the influ- 
ence of law. Although he himself never studied law seriously 
he gave much attention to legal forms and processes in law.*' 
One chapter of his Novissima rhetorica contains a history of the 
origin of law. 38 The Mirrltu, which is entirely devoted to the 
drawing up of testaments, can scarcely be classed with treatises 
on the ars dictaminis for it was written more particularly for the 
use of only those notaries whose business it was to draw up such 
legal documents." 1 ' The same is true of two other works, the 
Oliva and the Cedrus. The first is a compendium on the draw- 
ing up of privilegia and confirmationes, the second, of statutes 
in general (statuta. generalia) , i0 

Boucompaguo never underestimated the importance of his 
art or of himself as the exponent of it. He firmly believed that 
lie was laying new foundations and that he followed the pre- 

K Rockinger, Brief steller, I. 133. See a list of his works in Sutter, Aus Leben 
und Schriften, 24, and especially chs. IV and V. Sutter should he supplemented, 
especially in regard to chronology, by Gaudenzi, in Bullettino dell'Istituio Storico 
Italiano. See criticism of Sutter's book by Gaudenzi, p. 87, note 3. 

™Rockinger, Brief steller, I, 174. 

"The extracts from the Boneompagnus in Rockinger, Brief steller, I, 128-174, 
are mainly such as pertain to law. 

3S Rockin.L'er, Brief steller, I, no. 

''"Sutter, Aus Leben und Schriften, 66-71. 

'"Sutter, Aus Leben und Schriften. 66-71. 

(5t>6) 



77 

eepts of no master. He took delight in the accusation of his ad- 
versaries who said thai he considered himself greater than 
Cicero. He claimed that in his rhetoric he had not followed 
Cicero or any other author and jokingly added that he could not 
recall ever having read Cicero. Then in a patronizing tone he 
said that he had never depreciated the Rhetoric of Tnllins or ever 
dissuaded those who wished to imitate it. 41 The self-assertive- 
ness of Boncompagno no doubt often degenerated into arrogance; 
at all events he had many enemies who bitterly attacked him. 
"Numberless scorpions,*' he says, "were trying to sting him with 
their venomous tails and many dogs were barking at his back, 
bul when face to face with him the lips of the envious trembled." 42 
At the beginning of his large work, the Boncompagtius, lie holds 
an imaginary conversation with his new book, telling it to go out 
and tight for him against the envy of bis adversaries which lie 
describes as a terrible beast witli nine horned heads and three 
lails. 43 

Such petty squabbles of the schools, although unimportant 
in themselves, must have had a marked effect upon the develop- 
ment of ths ars dictaminis. The very fact that they were so 
sharp and bitter shows what popularity the new art was enjoy- 
ing at Bologna. Doubtless many students were attracted to it 
by these word battles between the masters. Brisk competition 
disclosed the real essentials of the art and rendered it more prac- 
tical. In this atmosphere, charged with spite and envy, incrim- 
ination and recrimination, the ars dictaminis reached its full 
growth. 

Boncompagno was ever ready to reform. Just as he refused 
to follow Cicero as a master, so he also broke with the teachings 

""Est preterea liber iste [Palma] mee rethorice prologus, licet in rethorica 
Tullium non fuerim imitatus. Nunquam enim memini me Tullium legisse nee 
secundum alicuius doctrinam me aliquid in rethoricis traditionibus vel dictamine 
fecisse profiteor, nisi quod quandoque causa deridendi emulos me Buchimenonem 
appellavi. Verumtamen nunquam Tullii depravavi rethoricam nee earn imitari volen- 
tibus dissuasi." Palma, in Sutter, Aus Leben und Schriften, 105. See also p. 4-'. 

'""quern infiniti scorpiones venenosis caudis pungere nitebantur, post cuius 
dorsum canes plurimi latraverunt. set ante ipsius faciem contremuerunt omnium 
laliia invidorum." Boncompagni boncompagmts, Rockinger, Brief steller, I, 174, 

"RoeUinger, Brief steller, I, 129 

(567) 



78 

of the older dictatores. Alberich of Monte-Cassino had taught 
that there were five essential parts to a letter, which doctrine 
Avas generally accepted throughout the Middle Ages. Boncom- 
pagno, however, claimed that only three of these, salutatio, mir- 
ratio and petitio, were actually essential, and that the rest were 
hut secondary just as were numerous other parts of letters. If 
any one should argue that this was contrary to the doctrines of the 
ancients he answered that the ancients had taught superfluous 
and harmful things. 44 He looked with derision upon the meth- 
ods of letter writing before his day. The masters, he said, had 
produced labored epistles at a great expense of time and had 
tried to adorn them with picturesque phrases and citations from 
learned books. 4 "' In contrast with this Boncompagno empha- 
sized the practical side of the art, the ability to write a correct 
letter extemporaneously and to the point. For this, he com- 
plained, his opponents accused him of lacking literary taste. 41 '' 
The school of Orleans he singled out for special censure. We 
shall see that at this seat of classical culture the ars dictaminis al- 
so flourished. 47 Boncompagno believed that the masters of Orleans 
unduly imitated classic models. He held that for proper models 
and good style they should turn to the papal curia, the imperial 

*"'Si dixerit: ita ab antiquis fuit institutum, dico, quod ilia institutio inutilis 
fuit et damnosa propter multiplicatatem. Ego autem concedo exordium, benevo- 
lentie sive malivolentie captationem et conclusionem, generalem sententiam, exor- 
tationem, remissionem, blanditionem et alias innumerabiles esse partes epistole non 
principales, set secundarias." Palma, in Sutter, Aus Leben und Schriften, in. See 
also pp. 52, 109. 

""Ante adventum nieum pullalarat in prosatoribus heresis cancerosa, quia 
omnis, qui pollicebatur in prosa exhibere doctrinam, litteras destinabat, quas ipse 
in magno spatio temporis vel alius picturato verborum fastu et auctoritatibus phil 
osophicis exornarat, cuius testimonio probatus babebatur orator." Rhetorica 
antiqua. Quoted by Sutter, Aus Leben und Schriften, 41. He may have had 
Geoffrey of Vinsauf in mind when be wrote these words. 

"Magistri vero et eorum fautores ex eo quod depreciabar proverbia et oh 
scura dictamina contempnebam. dieebant me litteratura carere. Nee ascribebant 
virtuti set vitio et levitati. quod semper in presentia dictare volebam." Rhetorica 
antiqua, in Sutter, Aus Leben und Schriften, 42, n. 1. 

"See below, p. 87. 



(568) 



79 

chancery or even to the writings of the church fathers. 48 The 
school of Orleans seems to have had many adherents in Bologna. 
Boncompagno tells how one day he put them all to scorn. He 
said he wrote a fictitious letter to the masters and scholars of 
Bologna, purporting to have been sent by a certain Frenchman 
named Robert who challenged him to a public debate on the val- 
ue of their respective methods in the ars dirtn minis. This an- 
nouncement created much interest and excitement. On the day 
a] (pointed the whole university assembled in the cathedral and 
the enemies of Boncompagno were especially numerous and con- 
fident. He calmly took his seat and waited for his opponent; but 
Robert did not appear. When all had lost patience waiting, he 
at last got up and proclaimed that he himself was the Robert 
who had written the letter and that they had all fallen nicely 
into his trap. Thereupon his opponents fled amid the laughter 
and Jeers of his followers who carried him home on their should- 
ers in triumph. 49 However much this account may have been 
colored for the sake of self-glorification, it remains an interesting 
picture of the times when the drs dictaminis was an important 
branch of study at the University of Bologna. 50 

Boncompagno did not name any of the rivals whom he at- 
tacked so bitterly, but we have reasons for believing that two of 
them were Bene of Lucca and Guido Faba. Very little is known 
about Bene. He wrote (1220-23) a Summa dictandi called the Can- 
delabrum which was well received. When Boncompagno temporar- 
ily left Bologna shortly after 1215 it is very probable that Bene 
came there in 1218 to take his place and that this occasioned bitter 
rivalry between the two teachers. 51 

Guido Faba was a much more important dictator than Bene 

,8 "Divisi autem librum istum por tabulas, ut onmes quibus placebit, et principue 
viri scolastici, qui per falsam et supersticiosam Aurelianensium doctrinam hactenus 
hac arte abuteb.intur tamquam naufragantes atl [eas] recurrant, et forman 
sanctorum patrum, curie Romane et imperialis aule stilum in prosaico dictamine 
studeant imitari." Liber X tabularum. Delisle, "Les Ecoles d'Orleans," Appendix. 

m Sutter,Aus Leben und Schriften, 42-45. 

"Boncompagno tells us that he had more than five hundred students. Gau- 
denzi, in Bullettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano, No. 14, 86. 

"'Gaudenzi, in Bullettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano, No. 14, no, 150. 

(569) 



80 

but of Ills life we know almost as little. 52 Even from a mere 
examination of his works however it is plain that lie was a much 
more sensible man than Boncompagno, and if not as original as 
that erratic master, he understood much better the essentials of 
his art. Although somewhat younger than Boncompagno, Ghiido 
taught and wrote at Bologna at the time when the ars dictaminis 
nourished most, that is, about 1225. His chief books are the 
iSumma dictaminis and the Dictamen which are always found 
together in the numerous extant manuscripts. In the works of 
Boncompagno there are too many irrelevant digressions ami no 
logical arrangement. To Guido Faba belongs the credit of having 
given definite form and limits to the tits dictaminis, drawing the 
lines clearly whereby the art became distinct at once from gram- 
mar and rhetoric on the one hand, and from the notaries' art and 
law on the other. One new feature made his books especially 
popular; he inserted a considerable number of forms in the ver- 
nacular and he had enough foresight to employ the more perfecl 
dialect of Tuscany iu preference to the idiom of Bologna. For 
all these reasons it is not surprising that his works, and not those 
of Boncompagno, became the standard text-books of the ars dic- 
taminis. 



Nothing is more striking about (lie ars dictaminis at the Uni- 
versity of Bologna than its transient character. Scarcely well 
established at the beginning of the thirteenth century, it had 
practically run its course before 1250. A few decades after the 
brilliant career of Boncompagno, the art which once had at- 
tracted the attention of the whole university had not a single 
illustrious master and was scarcely ever mentioned. So quickly 
did it come and go that its status probably never became fixed. 
There is no evidence that it ever attained the position of a sep- 
arate faculty a*s did grammar at Toulouse. For a time it entirely 
overshadowed the two subjects of the trivium from which it had 

" 2 For the few details we have about his life and writings see Rockinger, tjher 
die Ars dictandi in Italien," 136; Rockinger. Brief Stella-. I. 175; and Gaudehz'i, in 
Bullettino dell'Istituto Storico Italiano, Xo. 14, 86-88; 11S-150. 

(570) 



si 

developed, namely, grammar and rhetoric, but the records do not 
reveal a definite and organized body of masters and students who 
devoted their whole time to the ars dictaminis thus constituting a 
distinct faculty of the art in the medieval sense of the word. 
Roland of Padua, a student and imitator of Boncompagno, in 
1221 was made a doctor of grammar, and not of ars dictaminis, 
even under the auspices of the great master himself." 11 Tims 
during its short career the ars dictaminis outwardly seems never 
to have become wholly differentiated from the work in grammar 
and rhetoric. 

Although stress must be laid on the transient nature of the 
ars dictaminis at Bolgna, it is still more important to emphasize 
that its disappearance was apparent, not real. Even as outlined 
by Boncompagno, who paid so much attention to practical needs 
and who brought it in such (dose contact with law, the art was too 
general. From theoretical discussions of prose style and pre- 
cepts for writing student letters to the drawing up of wills and 
statutes was a long call. As the study of law became broader 
and more systematic, as the city life of Italy became more com- 
plicated and the business of the courts and chanceries increased, 
a greater demand arose for professional notaries who could draw 
up public and legal documents. Such portions of the manuals 
id' the ars dictaminis as pertained to the technical requirements 
of the notary were especially developed and ultilized while the 
theoretical discussions and general rules became relatively unim- 
portant. They were not set aside altogether but the old ars dic- 
taminis ceased to constitute a separate branch of learning. The 
art of letter-writing, now widely diffused and well-known every- 
where, once more was considered as but one element of prose 
Composition and was again taught as a part of grammar and 
rhetoric. This is well illustrated by the grammar written by 
C«sar of Italy during the second half of the thirteenth century.' 1 
Divided into nineteen chapters, the tenth is devoted to dictamen 
in prose with special reference to letter writing (De dictamine in 

' ,3 Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Professoribus, I, 604. 
"See above, p. 48. 

(571) 



82 

soluta oratione) and is clearly based on the Ars dictaminis of 
Ponce of Provence. 55 

As the ars dictaminis gradually disintegrated, the ars notaria 
developed and became a separate faculty at Bologna. Of course. 
throughout the Middle Ages, notaries had been in demand and 
had been trained in some way or another. Now, however, this 
art became systematized as an important branch of regular in- 
struction at the University of Bologna. 

The first known master of the ars notaria was Raynerius. 50 
He is mentioned as such in the books of the notaries of Bologna 
as early as 1219. He wrote a textbook on the art which is 
extant today."' 7 The intimate relation of the new branch of 
study to law can be seen from the fact that Raynerius was versed 
in that subject as well as in notaria. The statutes describe him 
as a "judex et notarius." 5S It became customary for the pro- 
fessors of notaria to teach the elements of law in addition to their 
regular work. The first four books of the Institute* were regu- 
larly interpreted by them. 

In 1249 the first mention occurs of a doctor notariae. 59 This 
was Salathiel who also wrote an Ars notariae based largely on 
that of Raynerius. His title of doctor seems to indicate that by 
this time the notarial art was organized as a faculty and that 
its professors were recognized as were the doctors of law. The 
notaries already were an important body in Bologna and had or- 
ganized as a guild. 1 '" The statutes of the city in 1216 prescribed 
that newly employed notaries should be thoroughly examined to 
prove their ability to read, translate and write documents. ' 

M Fierville, Une Grammaire Latine Inedite, Avant-propos, xv, xxii, and p. 116. 
For Ponce of Provence see below, p. 89. 

"It should be remembered that Irnerius himself wrote a notarial form-book, 
the Formuiarius tabellionum, but that is now lost and we do not know whether he 
actually taught the art. See above, p. 72. 

"Ranieri da Perugia, Ars Notaria, ed. by Gaudenzi, Bologna, 1890. 

5S Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bo>tonicnsis Professoribus, I, 506. 

"Sarti Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Professoribus. I, 507. 

"Rashdall, Universities, I, 112, note. 

"The statutes direct that four "notarios electos a Consulibus artis tabel- 
lionatus coram Potestate et ejus judicibus, qui inquirant qualiter sciant scribere 
et qualiter legere scripturus, quas fecerint, vulgariter et literaliter et qualiter 

(572) 



83 

Long before this Boncompagno, clearly seeing the drift of the 
times, had written his Oliva, Cedrus and Minim dealing with 
privileges, statutes and wills and thus specially designed for the 
use of notaries. 

The new art did not reach its full stature at Bologna until 
the time of Rolandinus Passagerius. In 1234 he was elected one 
of the public notaries of the city. Although learned in civil law, 
he was not a doctor of laws. His ambition was to be foremost 
among the doctors of the ars notaria. In this he succeeded so 
well that he was sometimes called rector et chimin us of that art. 62 
From the middle of the thirteenth century he became an actual 
dictator in his chosen field. When the Emperor Frederick II sent 
a threatening letter to the Bolognese demanding the delivery of 
his son Enzio whom they had captured in 1249, Rolandinus was in- 
trusted with the delicate task of writing a reply. His Sum urn 
artis notariae which appeared in 1256 was a masterpiece and im- 
mediately superseded all the earlier manuals. Under his leader- 
ship the notaries of Bologna practically secured a monopoly in 
teaching the art. No one was allowed to teach it who was not a 
citizen of Bologna or had not resided there twenty years. This 
shows at once the high standing of the ars notaria and also the 
prestige of Rolandinus. He retained his exalted dignity to the 
last day of a long life and when lie died in 1300 a splendid tomb 
was raised to mark his remains. 1 ' '• 

The ars notaria had now gained a permanent foothold at the 
university. Statutes of the city after 1250 mention a faculty of 
notarial The new art is spoken of as a separate science in a 

latinare et dictare." Sarti-Fattorini, Dc Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Profcs- 
soribus, I. 509, 11. _'. 

SJ Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Profcssoribus, I, 508- 

ra Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Professoribus, I, 511. 

""notarie et dictatorie (dictaminis) facultatis." Denifie, Die Universitdten, 
1, J05, 11. 553, says that this probably does not signify two faculties, one of notaria 
and another of the ars dictaminis. but simply a faculty of notaria. Since a 
notary was . .hliijed to know dictamen, "dictatorie" seems to be but an additional 
qualifying word. Nowhere else can an indication be found that the ars dic- 
taminis was ever a separate faculty. 

(573) 



84 

document of the year 1284. 63 Notaries were in high standing 
everywhere. Even the faculties of the university each employed 
a notary who was a person of much importance and was well 
paid. 1111 In 1305 salaries were bestowed upon doctors of 
notaria. 61 The statutes of 140.") still mention students and due- 
tors in this field. 68 

Meanwhile the notarial art was being taught at other uni- 
versities in Italy. 60 .Manuals were also written and studied 
throughout Europe in places where no university instruction was 
given in the ars notaria. 70 However, the history of the art has 
been traced far enough to show its relation to the medieval arts 
course. The ars notaria was a strange child of the seven liberal 
arts. When fully developed it pertained much mure to law than 
to grammar and rhetoric from which it sprang. Like law itself, 
which once was taught but as a part of rhetoric, the ars notaria 
too became a specialized science and scarcely could be classed 
any longer among the subjects of the arts course. 

"Sarti-Fattorini, De Claris Archigymnasii Bononiensis Professoribus, I, 506 

"'The following were the duties of the notary of the faculty of law ( 1317- 
1347) : "Ad officium notarii spectat puncta per universitatem tassata legere et 
publicare per scolas omnium ad puncta legencium, ea die, qua punctus completur, 
sequentem more solito publicando. Item legat- statuta, quorum legendorum 
tempi >ra sunt statutis ipsis expressa. in temporibus ordinatis. Item et alia que 
rectores vel alter ipsorum legi preciperent. Item in stacione, loco in quo rectores 
solent pro tribunali sedere, copiam sui faciat. Item, quando consciliarii con- 
veniunt, et universitas sit in loco presens, ita quod ipsius eopia, si expedient, 
possit haberi. Item festivitatibus, obsequiis, processionibus quas rectores cum 
universitate vel certis scolaribus ad pallacium faciunt, intersit ipsosque precedat. 
Item licteras omnes quas quacunque de causa universitas ad alios dirigit, in 
lino Hiiro ad hoc specialiter deputato registret, ac procuretur si haberi potest 
ipsarum copia antequam sigillentur. Item scribat tenorem omnium privileg- 
iorum nostrorum presentium et futurorum in duohus libris; et quociens alicui 
scolari cxpediret rcspicere ea privilegia sen tenorem privilegiorum, inspicere 
valeat, ut contingerit expcdire; qui libri penes rectores debeant semper esse." 
Malagola, Statuti delle Universita e dei Collegi dello Studio Bolognese, 25. See 
also 297 and 396. 

"Ghirardacci, Delia Historia di Bologna, I, 504. Doctors in notaria are also 
mentioned in 1321 and 1383 ; pp. iS and 398. See Rashdall, Universities, I, 240. 

"Malagola, Statuti dcllc Universita c dei Collegi dello Studio Bolognese, 
287-288. 

""Rashdall. Universities, II. 37. 

T "See especially Rockinger, Briefsteller, II. 

(574) 



85 

Coming back now to the ars dictaminis, we find that il was 
by no means confined to Italy. Having received its first impulse 
I here, it spread rapidly over all the countries of western Europe, 
where manuals of every description were written just as in Italy.' 1 
Our purpose however is not to follow the complicated history of 
the ars dictaminis into all its ramifications, but simply to inquire 
to what extent its was taught at universities. 

The statutes of the University of Paris give absolutely no 
indication that tin' new art was ever taught there. Nevertheless, 
ii lias something of a history even at Paris. Here, as elsewhere, 
there was a demand for men who could write letters and official 
papers in a business-like way. Thus in 1215 the chapter of Notre 
Dame required that the teacher of the cathedral school must be 
lilled to write the letters issued by the chapter. 72 

There is evidence, too, that dictamen was taught at the Uni- 
versity of Paris. Gerald de Barri says he there learned (he 
metric art and dictamen. 73 John Garland wrote a text honk on 
the subject which he called Parisiana poetrm. 76 Its form and 
contents are very significant. Unlike most manuals of the art 
written in John's time, his book still treats dictamen in its old 
threefold form, prose, metric and rhythmic. Whole poems are 
given as illustrations in the part which treats the metric art, just 

"Bresslau, Urkundenlehre, T, 631. 

:=, 'Libros quidem Parisiensis ecclesie sine cantu corrigere, ligare ct in bono 
statu tenebitur conservare, ct talem instituere magistrum in claustro qui sufn- 
ciens sit ad scolarum regimen, ct ad officium quod debet facere in ecclesia, et 
ad Iitteras capituli, si opus fucrit, faciendas." Guerard, Cartulaire dc I'Eglise 
Notre-Dame, I, 356. 

"Giraldus Cambrensis, Speculum Ecclesiae, ed. Brewer, IV, 3. 

'"Bruges MS. 546, fols. 149-174 v°. Rockinger, Briefsteller, 1. 485 ft'., prints 
extracts from a MS. at Munich which be considered a mere commentary on the 
larger work of John, called Parisiana. The MS. of Bruges seems to contain 
the original. See also Scbeler. Lexicographic Latine, and Haureau, Notices c! 
Extraits, XXVII, pt. _>, Si. Recently G. Mari has edited the whole of this 
work of John Garland as Rockinger knew it under the title "Poetria Magistri 
Johannis Anglici de Arte Prosayca, Metrica et Rithmica" in Romanischs 
Forschungen ( 1902) XIII, 883-965, except that portion on "Rithmica" which he 
had previously published in his / Trattati Medievali di Ritmica Latina, 35-80. 
He docs not mention this Bruges manuscript. 

(575) 



86 

as models of letters, private and official, are found in that portion 
which treats the ars dictaminis proper. 

The Parisiana poetria of John Garland indicates how diet- 
a HMD w;is generally taught at Paris. It never acquired such 
recognition and individuality as it did at Bologna, but was still 
taught incidentally as a part of grammar and rhetoric. Heme 
John laid about as much stress on the teaching of verse as on the 
writing of letters; for as a branch of school composition the metric 
art was important enough in that age which had such a predilec- 
tion for verse. 77 Rut in places where the ars dictaminis flour- 
ished it was not considered in the light of its value as a mere 
school exercise but rather as a practical study which would fit 
students for lucrative positions. 

Some few indications there are that the ars dictaminis as a 
professional branch was taught even at Paris. In the Battle of the 
Seven Arts rhetoric is called "the Lombard dame, rhetoric.*' 78 In 
another interesting passage rhetoric is pictured as leading out 
from Paris a troop of Lombard knights, whose darts are plumed 
with tongues and who cany off many a heritage from people 
who come to them for advice. 7 " In all probability these "Lom- 
bard knights" were men who had been trained in Italy in rhetoric 
or ars dictaminis which might embrace the first principles of law 
and the drawing up of wills and other legal papers. Whether 
they actually taught their art at Paris is not certain, but prob- 
ably they did for the poem pictures in allegory all the books and 
subjects which were taught at Paris and Orleans. Some travel- 
ling dictatores surely did come to Paris to teach. In a formulary 

"See above, p. 34. 

""Li Lombart dame Rectorique." Henri d'Andeli, La Bataille des I'll Ars, 
v. ->->4; ed. Heron. Oeuvres de Henri d'Andeli, 51. 
""Moult i ot chevaliers lombars 
Que Rectoririue ot amenez. 
Dars out de langues empanez 
Por percier les cuers des gens niccs 
Qui vienent j ouster a lor lices, 
Quar il tolent mains heritages 
Par les lances de lor langages." 
vv. 68-74; Heron, Oeuvres de Henri d'Andeli. 45. 

(576) 



87 

of student letters there is one in which a student writes to a friend 
in Toulouse to come quickly to Paris because a famous dictator 
would soon be there. 80 Laurentius of Aquileia, a well-known 
itinerant dictator, tells us thai lie taught at Paris and that he 
finished his Ars sive Rethorica Dictaminis there when Boniface 
VIII was Pope ( 1294-1303 ). 81 

These few and scattered notices scarcely permit any general- 
ization as to the ars dictaminis at Paris. However it seems safe 
to say that the art never go1 a firm foothold there, that it was 
taught intermittently by wandering teachers and that, like ."'ram- 
mar and formal rhetoric, it could not prosper beside Aristotelian 
logic and philosophy. In France, Orleans, not Paris, was the 
chief center of the art. 

A previous chapter has shown how Orleans was famous for 
its schools where the ancient classics were still much in favor 
in the thirteenth century. 82 There are good reasons for believing 
also that law was taught there as far back as the ninth century. 83 
A place where the arts and the practical study of law flourished 
was favorable to the development of the ars dictaminis, and hence, 
as early as the twelfth century, Orleans was noted for its instruc- 
tion in the new art. 

It is generally admitted that the ars dictaminis as a separate 
branch of study was introduced info France directly from Italy. 84 
In the second half of the twelfth century however, Orleans was 
already an independent center of influence. Three men from thai 
city became secretaries of the Popes Alexander III (1159-1181 I 
and Lucius III ( 1181-1185 ). 83 Towards the beginning of the 
thirteenth century many manuals of the epistolary art were writ- 
ten al Orleans and at tie- neighboring monastery of Si. Lizard or 

"Haskins, "Life of Medieval Students," in Amer. Hist. Rev., HI, 221, n. f>- 
The collection dates from the early fourteenth century. 

"Novati, L'Influsso del Pensiero Latino sopra la Civilta Italiana, -'51-54. 
Also Haskins, in Amer. Hist. Rev.. Tit, 208, note. 

s= See above, p. 15. 

"Fitting, Die Anfange der Rechtsschule zu Bologna, 45. 

"Valois, De .life Scribendi Epistolas, 25. 

"Norden, Die Antike Kunstprosa, IT. 725. 



(577) 



88 

Magdunum. 86 They were very much like those which appeared 
in Italy at about the same time. None of them treat the art of 
dictamen in its threefold division as did the Parisiana poetria of 
John Garland of Paris. "There are different kinds of dictamen" 
says the introduction to one of them, "metric and prose. The 
metric art however will not be treated. Likewise there are var- 
ious kinds of prose dictamen, oratorical, rhetorical and epistolary, 
but this treatise will confine itself solely to the art of letter 
writing." 87 This purely practical purpose, that of training stu- 
dents directly for positions in chanceries, was always uppermost 
in the minds of the dictatores of Orleans. Hence the art became 
a very important branch there at a time when at Paris John Gar- 
land was teaching dictamen in prose and verse as a mere adjunct 
to grammar and rhetoric. 

As early as 1235 there was a University of Orleans famous 
for law. 88 Thereafter, as law grew in importance, the arts de- 
clined at Orleans and scarcely any details can be given about the 
arts course at the university; 8 " nor can it be determined what 
was the exact status of the ars dictaminis, whether it was a dis- 
tinct faculty or not. It is certain however that early in the thir- 
teenth century it was extremely popular for the Italian dictatores 
considered Orleans the very center of the art in France. 90 A 
certain Florentine attributed to the masters of Orleans the in- 
vention of a particular style of cursus which lie then goes on to 
name stilum gallicum thus making "style of Orleans" synonymous 

'"Delisle, "Les Ecolcs d'Orleans," 140; Auvray, "Documents Orleanais du 
Xlle et du Xllle Sieclc," in Mhnoires de la Soc. dc I'Orleanais, XXIII; Langlois, 
Formulaires de Lettrcs du Xlle. t\u Xllle et du XlVe Siecle," 3c Article, in 
Notices et Extraits, XXXIV, pt. 2, 1-19; Rockinger, Briefsteller, I, 04-114. 

s '"Dictaminis autem plures sunt species, dictamen aliud est metricum, aliud 
prosaicum. de metrico nihil ad presens. ■ 

Prosaici vero plures sunt species: oracio, rethorica, epistola. et etiam pre- 
ermissis aliis de epistola agamus." Ars dictandi aurelianensis (e. 11N0) ; in Rock- 
inger, Briefsteller. I, 103. 

"Denifle. Die Universifdten, I, 252; Rashdall, Universities, II, 139. 

8 °See above, p. 19, n. 30. 

""Valois, De Arte Scribendi Epistolas, 39. 



(578) 



89 

with "style of France." 01 An illustration has already been given 
of the jealous antagonism which Boneompagno displayed against 
the school of Orleans. 02 That the ars dicta minis was still popu- 
lar at Orleans about the middle of the thirteenth century can be 
seen from a letter of the itinerant dictator, Ponce of Provence, to 
the masters and students of that university. 03 This letter ac- 
companied the Hiinima de Dicta mine of Ponce which appeared in 
1249 and 1252 and become very well known. 94 Ponce describes 
the value of his art in the most glowing colors of allegory. He 
tells how when wandering over hills and valleys lie met an ex- 
ceedingly beautiful maiden. Unable to resist her charms, he 
prostrated himself at her feet and begged to be allowed to serve 
her. She graciously took his right hand, raised him from the 
ground and showed him a large and beautiful city. No one 
might enter it except by seven portals typifying the manifold re- 
lations which existed between men and women of every station in 
life. Through these portals she led him into the city where he 
saw eighteen palaces built of precious stones. An inscription 
told who might enter the palaces and at what times and for what 
business. Seeing all these wonders, he cried out, " 'O beautiful 
maiden, tell me your name and to whom tin's city belongs and 
after whom it is named.' And she answered, '1 am called Rhet- 
oric. This city is named Practica dictatoria. Although my 
sister Grammar says that she is my equal in this city, neverthe- 
less I have supreme authority, and since I have but few good 
citizens, I give you the keys to the seven portals, representing all 
the doctrines of the ars dictaminis, on condition that you open 
them faithfully to all who wish to enter.' " 05 Ponce concludes 

"'Thurot, Notices ct Extraits, XXII, pt. J, 483; Delisle, "Les Ecolcs d'Orleans," 

TSee above, p. 78. 

"Delisle, "Les Ecoles d'Orleans," 150. The manuscript from which Delisle 
cites is dated 1259. 

"Haskins, in Amcr. Hist. Rev., Ill, J08, note. 

" 'O virgo speciosissima, die michi noraen tuum, ct cujus est ista civitas, ct 

quo nomine nuncupatur.' Et ispa respondit breviter, 'Ego vocor Rethorica. Ista 

civitas appellatur Practica dictatoria. Et quamvis soror mea Grammatica se dicat 

fore in hac civitate meam proporcionarium (porcionariam?), ego tamen optineo 

(579) 



90 

M inviting all who in a short time wish to become the best die- 
tatores to hasten to him who holds the keys to the science 

No doubt lie won over many students by this flowery appeal 
in which he exalts rhetoric or the ars dictaminis high above gram- 
mar. We have seen that in his Summa he told his students that 
he would neglect the fables of the classical authors and lead them 
directly to the art of letter writing, that pearl among sciences. 1 "'' 
Unfortunately no records have as yet been found which reveal 
how extensively the ars dictaminis was studied at Orleans after 
1250, how much it contributed towards the rapid decline of the 
ancient authors, or in what relation it stood to law. It is prob- 
able that Laurentius of Aquileia also taught at Orleans towards 
the close of the thirteenth century, 117 hut apparently in the reign 
of Philip the Fair the ars dictaminis was less important at ( Jrleans 
than in the reign of Philip Augustus. 98 

The art was taught elsewhere in France beside Paris and 
Orleans. 00 It nourished throughout the valley of the Loire which 
was its home in France. 1 Thus Tours was in early times a rival 
of Orleans. 2 In the famous schools of Ohartres, not far from 

Orleans, the art nourished in the twelfth century." Since these 
towns did not become the seats of universities, they do not come 
within our scope. 

The only other French universities at which the ars dictami- 
nis is known to have been taught were Toulouse and Montpellier. 

principatum. Et quoniam paucos bonos habitatores habeo, tibi claves accommodo, 
tali federe quod predictas VII portas, per quas tota doctrina epistolaris dictaminis 
figiiratur, aperias fideliter ct benigne volentibus.' " Delislc, "Les Ecoles d'Orleans," 
appendix, 150. Also quoted from Delisle by Valois, De .lit,- Scribendi Epistolas, 
48-49. 

"'See above, p. 29. 

"'Haskins, in .-liner. Hist. Rev., 111. 208, note. 

The formulary of Treguier ( e. 1315) lias reference-. to grammar ami logic 
at the University of Orleans (see above, 11. 19). but none to the ars dictaminis. 
Delisle, "I.e Formulaire de Treguier," and Rockinger, Briefsteller, Einleitung, 
xxvii. 

"Valois. De Arte Scribendi Epistolas, 40 

'Langlois. in Notices el Extraits, XXXIV. pt. ->, 1. 

! See Sandys, A History of Classical Scholarship, I, 514. and notes 2 ami 3. 

"Clerval, I.es Ecoles de Chartres, jm, 311. 

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91 

Ponce of Provence taught at both before lie came to Orleans. 4 
His flowery address of which an abstract has just been given, he 
also sent to Toulouse. 5 Laurentius of Aquileia mentions Toul- 
ouse in some of the lei ters of Iiis formulary and 1 lierefore probably 
had taughl tliere at some time. In an inventory of the books of a 
college of Toulouse, dated 1337, two Summae dictaminis are men- 
tioned." Elsewhere in the statutes tliere is no reference to the 
art. The grammar course for 1328 prescribed metrificatura? 
which doubtlessly was such metrical <li<-tttiin'ii as John Garland 
had taughl at Paris about a century before. The real practical 
ars dictaminis probably appeared and disappeared at Toulouse 
and Perpignan with such itinerant dictatorcs as Ponce of Prov- 
ence and Laurentius of Aquileia. 

Of (he ars notaria (here are no (races at the medieval uni- 
versifies of France and England. 



4 Valois, De Arte Scribendi Rpistolas, 45. 

"Delisle, "Note Mir le Dictamen de Poncius Provincialis," in Bulletin de hi 
Soc. archeol. de VOrleanais, IV (1862-67), 42-44. See also XIV. 410. n. 1. 

"Haskins, in Amer. Hist. Rev., III. 208, note. 

"'Summam dictaminis Thome de Capua" and "Summam dictaminis Ricardi de 
Pophis." Fournier, Statuts, I. 551. 

s See above, p. 51. 






(581) 



SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION. 

In the general intellectual awakening of the twelfth cen- 
tury it seemed as if the study of language and literature would 
have its full share. A revival of Latin classical learning was 
going on in northern France, particularly at Chartres and Or- 
leans, and was already attracting scholars even from England. 
If this movement had not been checked there probably would 
have been a steady increase of interest in the Latin and later 
also in the Greek classics, without any of the brilliance and eclat 
of the later Italian revival but also without many of its ex- 
cesses. 

During the twelfth century, however, western Europe was 
stirred by many other new interests, the most important of which 
were Aristotelian logic and philosophy, systematized theology, 
civil and canon law and medicine, the chief manifestation of a 
new interest in science. These and other things all militated 
against the classics so that by the middle of the thirteenth cen- 
tury the humanistic movement died a death from sheer starva- 
tion. The universities had grown up as exponents of all these 
triumphant intellectual pursuits and hence they may in this 
sense be said to have retarded the revival of learning. 

Since grammar was thus deprived of one of its chief mis- 
sions, the teaching of the "ancient poets and historians," the 
classics were entirely neglected at medieval universities. At the 
beginning of the twelfth century, however, there was still a good 
deal of interest in grammar, shorn as it was. So many changes 
were made that we may distinguish between the "old grammar" 
taught on the basis of Donatus and Priscian and the "new gram- 
mar" of which the accepted texts were the Doctrinale of Alex- 
ander of Villedieu and the Oraecismus of Eberhard of Bethune. 
There were some improvements in these new text-books but in 
many ways they were puerile and insufficient. Some men, espe- 
cially John Garland of Paris and Roger Bacon, were anxious to 
improve upon these books and in general to infuse a healthier 

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93 

spirit into the instruction of grammar by going back to the study 
of ancient literature; but they could not arouse their contempo- 
raries who were so much more interested in other studies that 
they were satisfied to leave grammar in whatever condition it hap- 
pened to be. 

The study of language consequently entered upon a woeful 
decline at the University of Paris which can be seen iu the bad 
style of the writings winch emanated from it in the later thir- 
teenth and most of the fourteenth century. At Italian univer- 
sities the situation was not much better. 

Exceptional conditions prevailed at the universities of 
southern France, especially at Toulouse and Perpignan. Here 
the study of grammar was fostered better than anywhere else in 
Europe, although unfortunately nothing was done to improve 
the substance and method of instruction. At these universities 
there was a separate faculty in grammar and regular degrees 
were given in that subject, important facts which have not been 
duly realized and emphasized by any historian of universities. 
The course iu grammar was comparatively broad and included 
many books and subjects which were not touched upon at other 
universities. One of these grammatical books was the enigmati- 
cal Alexander which I have endeavored to identify with the 
"Glossary" of Alexander of Villedieu. The records show that 
towards the end of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth century in- 
terest in Aristotelian logic and philosophy fell off at Toulouse 
whereas grammar became much more popular. However, it was 
still the old traditional grammar of the thirteenth century and 
no effort was made to improve it by incorporating humanism 
which was now spreading over all western Europe. A study of 
humanism at other universities showed that these great medieval 
institutions had very little share in the revival of classical learn- 
ing. 

The study of rhetoric as outlined by Cicero and Quintilian 
never flourished during the Middle Ages. Hence the old-fash- 
ioned rhetoric was almost wholly neglected in the arts course of 
all medieval universities. The increasing business relations in 
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries especially in Italy, led to a 

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94 

remarkable development of one phase of rhetoric, the art of writ- 
ing- letters and public documents. The influence of the study of 
law hastened specialization along this line until at Bologna there 
were separate courses in the ars dictaminis and ars notaria which 
directly prepared students for a large variety of positions which 
in our day would range from that of a stenographer to a secre- 
tary of state. Owing largely to the interest in this practical 
work, grammar and formal rhetoric were for a time almost 
crowded out at Bologna. From Italy, the ars dictaminis spread 
to most of the universities of France, although here the art never 
gained a firm foothold. The history of the transformation of 
rhetoric illustrates the practical or professional nature of most 
of the instruction at medieval universities. The ideal of culture 
tor its own sake, as exemplified by Petrarch, as well as the ideal 
of advancing knowledge by investigation, as advocated by Abelard 
and Roger Bacon, never found favor at medieval universities. 
They existed largely for the interpretation and transmission of 
existing knowledge and principally such knowledge as had prac 
tical value in fitting for the professions and for positions in the 
business world. 

The main theme of this treatise has been to show just how 
and why the study of language and literature was neglected 
especially during the century before Petrarch. To comprehend 
the revival of learning it is essential to understand that exactly 
during this century, when the medieval universities were at the 
height of their glory, the study of the classics languished infinite- 
ly more than during any other period in the Middle Ages. Al- 
though it be granted that Petrarch was the "morning star of the 
Renaissance, "' it must not be forgotten that in his advocacy of 
the study of the ancient classics he shone forth so clearly, not 
alone by his own brilliance, but chiefly because it happened to be 
darkest just before the dawn. 



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APPENDIX I. 

A Time-Table of Lectures in the Arts Course of the Univer- 
sity i if Toulouse. 1309. 

The following time-table was sanctioned by the faculty of 
arts of the University of Toulouse in 1309 in order to avoid con- 
flicts and disputes between masters and bachelors. At Toulouse 
there was a special faculty of grammar and another in arts, 1 hence 
no grammatical books are included except the Priscianus minor 
which for some unknown reason was taught in the arts course. 
The program of studies consists almost wholly of the books of 
Aristotle and is practically identical with the programs of the 
University of Paris, 2 but nevertheless it is unique in that it speci- 
fies the exact years and periods of the day when the various books 
were to be taught. 3 

The academic year at Toulouse was divided into two terms, 
a winter term extending from the feast of St. Luke, October 18th, 
to thai of St. John the Baptist, dune 24th; the summer term from 
June 24th to October 18th. The chief books were taken up in 
the winter term and during the first hours of the morning. 

It will be noticed thai the first two periods of the morning 
were reserved for the masters who gave the important ordinary 
lectures. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth periods', that is, 

'See above, p. 55. 

Tor the statutes of 1215, 1252, 1254, 13(16 and 1452, prescribing the work in the 
arts course at Paris see Rashdall. Universities, I. 433 fr. 

'In his valuable little school-bonk. Readings in the History of Education, 
Mediaeval Universities, Cambridge, 1909. Professor Arthur O. Norton of Harvard 
prints a time-table of lectures of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Leipzig, 1519 (pp. 
132-4). He says he could not find an earlier document of that kind. This one 
of Toulouse antedates that of Leipzig by more than two centuries and gives a 
much better picture of the medieval course in arts. 

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96 

until about three o'clock, were occupied by the various exercises 
of the bachelors, who were what we should call assistants aud in- 
structors at our universities. After three o'clock came the ex- 
traordinary lectures of the masters aud bachelors on the books 
of Aristotle on natural philosophy. 4 

In addition to the regular lecture work a very important 
part of the exercises was the weekly disputation held by the 
masters not later than the beginning of the sixth period or about 
three o'clock. While the disputation was going on all other work 
in the faculty of arts was suspended and all the bachelors and 
repetitores were obliged to attend. 

In Lent some slight changes were made in the program. Dur- 
ing the fourth period the bachelors were to hold conferences or 
do such other things as the masters saw tit. The lectures of the 
bachelors on the "New Logic" which ordinarily came at the sixth 
period, were to begin immediately after the midday meal and 
were to extend to the beginning of the seventh period. After 
that, masters only were to give extraordinary lectures. The dis- 
putations during Lent must begin immediately after the mid- 
day meal. 

The following is the statute from which this tabulation has 
been made. 

1309. 10 avril. — Statuts de la Faculty des Arts. 3 

Noverint universi, quod cum dissentio verteretur inter magis- 
tros, bacallarios et scolares universos artium in studio Tolosano, 
super disputationibus, determinationibus, ac etiam super lectura 
librorum infrascriptoruin, de mode et hora legendi et lectiones 
magistrorum repetendi, religiosus vir et discretus dominus prior 
de Buseto, doctor decretorum, rector dicti studii, de assensu et 
voluntate totius Universitatis, commisit diffliniendam et deter- 
minandam dictam dissensionem religiosis ac discretis viris Iec- 
toribus fratrum Predicatorum, fratum Minorum, et fratrum 

'See Molinier, "Etude sur l'Organisation de l'Universite de Toulouse," in 
Devic et Vaissette, Histoire Generate de Languedoc, VII, 604-605. 
5 Fournier, Statuts, I, p. 465, no. 542. 

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97 

Beate Marie de Carmelo. Qui, habito tractatu diligenti, communi 
utilitate inspecta, ad dimniendum, deterniinaudum et statuen- 
dum inviolabiliter, sub pena V solidorum tolosanorum Universi- 
tati predicte applicanda pro qualibet contradictione seu defectu in 
aliqua infrascriptorum syndico, Universitatis nomine ipsius stip- 
ulanti, in modum qui sequitur processerunt. 

I. Ad promotionem et commodum dicti studii Tolosani dif- 
finimus ac statuimus, quod in uno anno, a festo beati Luce evan- 
geliste usque ad festum beati Johannis Baptiste, legantur in mane 
libri Priorum et Posteriorum Aristoteli.s, alio vero anuo libri 
Topicorum Aristotelis et libri Elenchorum, et sic continue pro- 
cedatur singulis annis. Libros tamen, qui eodem anuo debent 
legi, diversis annis alternatim incipiendo, a festo beati Jobannis 
usque ad festum beati Luce. Legantur uno anno quinque libri 
Ethicorum, et alio anuo alii quinque per ordinem, et tertio anno 
liber de Aninia. Deinde sicut prius circulando procedatur pre- 
dictos libros legendo complete. 

II. Item, .statuimus, quod post lectiouem matutinam, a 
festo beati Luce usque ad festum beati Johannis, legantur singu- 
lis annis complete primo tres libri veteris Logice, deinde Pris- 
cianus minor. A festo beati Johannis usque ad festum beati 
Luce, legantur dicta bora libri sex Principiorum cum libro Di- 
visionum Boecii vel cum tribus primis libris Topicorum Boecii 
per ordinem, cum hoc complendo, si quid de Prissciano minori 
incoiupletum remauserit in ordinario procedenti. 

III. Item, immediate post lectiones magistrorum legantur 
tractatus de mane per bacallarios a magistris deputatos bis solum 
in anno, scilicet semel a festo beati Luce usque ad festum Pasche, 
et semel ab octabis Pasche usque ad festum beati Luce, si tamen 
in festo Pasche fuerint completi; ita quod, postquam tractatus in 
principio yemis incepti fuerint, de ceteronon incipiantur iterum 
in paschali tempore, donee completi fuerint pro yeme terminati. 

IV. Item, de physica reali legantur extraordinarie complete 
libri qui sequuntur per magistros regentes in dicto studio seu per 
alios sufficientes magistros seu bacalarios a magistris regenti- 
bus ad hoc deputatos. — Primo anno legatur liber Phisicorum. — 

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98 

Secundo anno liber de Generatione et corruptione, et prinii libri 
naturales qui sequntnr, scilicet liber de Sensu et de sensato, liber 
<!e Mentoria et reminiscent ia, liber de Sompno et de vigilia, liber 
de Causis longitudinis et brevitatis vite, liber <le Morte et vita, 
respiratione et expiratione, juventute et senectute, liber de Causa 
motus animalium, liber de Progressu animaliuni. Et isti ijiii 
speetant ad secundum annum sunt de forma positi loco quorum- 
dam aliorum, qui modicum utilitatis videbantur habere. — Tertio 
anno legantur libri de Celo et mundo, Metheororuin. — Quarto 
anno Metaphisica Aristotelis. Deinde shut prius in quolibet 
quadriennio circulando procedatur. Et ad tardius magistri ten- 
enantur incipere dictos libros singulis annis prima <lie legibili posl 
festuni Omnium Sanctorum. 

V. Item, bacallarii, qui per magistros singulis annis ad lioc 
deputentur, teneantur quolibet anno complete legere illos libros 
de nova Logica, qui pro anno non spectant ad ordinarium magis- 
trorum, scilicet uno anno I i brum Topicorum Aristotelis et librum 
Elencorum, alio vero anno librum Priorum et Posteriorum, ut 
proficere ac studere cogantur; et ad tardius teneantur incipere 
dictos libros secunda die legibili post festuni Omnium Sanctorum. 
Quilibet autem audientium dictos libros uove Logice a bacallariis 
antedictis teneatur eisdem pro salario solvere, pro libro Topicor- 
um VIII denarios turonenses; pro libro Elencorum III I denarios 
turonenses; pro libro Priorum VI denarios turonenses; pro libro 
Posteriorum sex denarios turonenses; ita tanien quod, quamvis 
dicti scolares predictos denarios non solverent, nichilominus dicti 
bacallarii ad predictos legendos et complendos modo premisso, 
sub pena prius posita, teneantur. 

VI. Item, dicti bacallarii teneantur legere Logicam veterem 
quolibel anno, quando Priscianum minorem in suo extraordi- 
nario finiverint, in bora eadem in qua dictum Priscianum lege- 
bant. 

VII. Item, totum tempus, quod est post commestionem 
usque ad primam pulsationem none, tempore non quadragesimali, 
sit bacallarioruni ad conferendum vel alia faciendum, que sibi et 
magistris ut ilia videbuntur. Totun. vero tempus a prima pulsa- 



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99 

done Mniic nsi|iic a<l pulsationem extraordinarii doctorum legum, 
assignetur bacallariis ad legendum de n<»\ a Logica. Totum vero 
sequens tempus ceda! lecture extraordinarie magistrorum. In 
Quadragesima tamen totum tempus, quod est post repetitiones 
lectionum usque a<l commestionem, sit bacallariorum ad conferen- 
(luni et alia faciendum, que sibi el magistris mil ia videbuntur. 
Lectura vero bacallariorum de nova Logica habeat tempus im- 
mediate jiost commestionem usque ad pulsationem extraordinarii 
doctorum. Totum vero sequens tempus cadat lecture magistror- 
um. Nee magistri horam bacallariorum sen scolares boram magis- 
trorum impedire presumant, nee alios actus a predictis sul> dicta 
pena prefatis lioris exercere. 

VIII. Item, cum Iegetur lectio de Pliisica reali (vel) libri 
consimilis deputati a magistris, ut eis affectuosius ac diligentius 
intentatur, cum etiam Iegetur lectio de nova Logica per aliquem 
bacallariorum in bora prius bacallariis assignata, nullus alius 
actus in eisdem scolis nee aliis ejusdem facultatis exerceatur, nisi 
lectio de consimili libro. 

IX. Item, pro lectura realis pbisice tribuatur quolibe! anno 
certa suninia recompensanda magistro legenti, si solum unus 
legerit, vel pluribus si plures realem pbisicam legerint. Quo 
suinina ah omnibus baccallariis et repetitoribus necnon etiam a 
scolaribus pro reali phisica audienda sumcientibus colligatur, 
quando magistro legenti placuerit, per aliquos ab eodem ad hoc 
deputatos quolibet yenie, cum magister librorum phisice incep- 
erit, et dicta suninia eidem magistro tribuatur, scilicet a quolibel 
predictorum audientium sen mm audientium, amine tamen suffi- 
< ientium II solidos turonensium. Ad quos solvendos omnes pre 
dicti per rectorem, si oportuerit, compellantur. Nee dicti magis- 
tri facere possint gratiam dictis bacallariis, repetitoribus vel 
scolaribus super predictis II solidis turonensibus, nisi impoten- 
tiam propter paupertatem allegent, quam teneantur asserere, tide 
data. 

X. Item, magistri in artibus teneantur disputare ad minus 
seme] in septimana, incipiendo disputationem ad tardius in prima 
pulsatione none, si tempus quadragesimale mm fuerit, in Quad 



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100 

ragesima vero statim post comestionem. Et in tota ilia die post 
ceptam disputationem, nullus alius actus in cisdem scolis nee iu 
aliis ejusdeni facultatis exerceatur, quousque disputatio eom- 
pleta fuerit; et disputationi magistral] bacallarii et repetitores 
teneantur interesse complete, nisi causa rationabilis eos excuset, 
ut per hoc ipsi proficiant et scolares exemplo eorum ad simile 
inclinentur. 

XI. Item, quilibet magistrorum determinet questionem 
quam disputabit, antequam iterum disputet. Bacallarii vero et 
repetitores teneantur interesse determination] complete, nisi ex- 
cusationem legitimam habeant, ne determinationes propter defec- 
tum audienthun omittantur. [et cetera.] 



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APPENDIX II. 

Survivals of the Ancient Classics, circa 1225 to 1325. 

The following are some illustrations to show that in spite 
of the general decadence of the classics during this period they 
were still known and read by some students and savants in iso- 
lated places throughout western Europe. 

I. France. 

(1) In France the most interesting of such solitary classi- 
cists was Vincent of Beauvais, a Dominican monk (d. 12<U I . 
He had exceptional opportunities for the study of the classics for 
he was tutor of the children of King Louis IX and collected for 
his own use a large number of manuscripts in the library of the 
Sainte-Chapelle at Paris. Whatever may have been the spirit 
in which lie studied the ancient authors, his wide acquaintance 
with them cannot be denied. It is astounding to read the list 
of bonks of antiquity which he quotes or mentions in his vast 
encyclopaedia, the Speculum MundV 

(2) Etienne de Bourbon was also a Dominican monk who 
had been a student at Paris about 1220 and who wrote about 
1260. From his works it is evident that he was acquainted with 
at least the following authors: Cicero, Pliny the Elder, Seneca. 
Macrobius, Ovid and Lucan. 2 

(3) At the Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. Lat. 1790::. is a 
codex of the thirteenth century originally from Notre Dame 
which is a kind of anthology containing extracts from many 

'Boutaric, "Vincent de Beauvais et la Cnnnaissance de l'Antiquite Classique atl 
Treizieme Siecle," in Rev. des Quest, Hist., XVI T. 5-57. 

2 Lecoy de la Marche (ed.1, Anecdotes Historiques . . . d'Etienne de Bourbon, 
P xiv. 

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102 

classical authors, such as Ovid, Horace, Juvenal, Persius, Mar- 
tial, Petronius, Virgil, Terence, Sallust, Cicero, Quintilian, Sen- 
eca, Plautus, Aulus Gellius, Caesar and Suetonius. 3 MS. Lat. 
13582, fol. 164-167 (13th century or first half of the 14th) also 
contains such extracts. Whether these had any connection with 
the University of Paris in the thirteenth century is hard to tell. 

In 1276 the University of Paris issued a decree that all mas- 
ters and bachelors were forbidden to read in private any books 
except logical and grammatical works. 4 This may have been 
aimed against the reading of the classics but more probably it 
was to be a safeguard against heresies such as the Averroism of 
Siger de Brabant and his followers."' 

(4 I At Toulouse there is a student's note-book of the thir- 
teenth century containing comments on the first book of the 
Georgics of Virgil and on a fragment of Seneca. No name or 
place is given. ,; 

(5) The pseudo-Boethius, />< Disci pi inu Scholarium, a 
tract written by a monk of Brabant in the thirteenth century, and 
which mentions the University of Paris, recommends to students 
the following authors : Seneca, Lucan, Virgil, Statins, Horace, 
Persius and Ovid. 7 

II. Germany. 

(1) There is reason for believing thai at Erfurt in Ger- 
many there was a classical school something like that at Or- 
leans. 8 Nicolaus de Bibera, a cleric at Erfurt, in his Carmen 
satiric-um (1281-1283), mentions the following classical authors: 
Ovid, Juvenal, Terence, Horace, Persius, Plautus, Virgil and 

3 Delislc, Inventaire des MSS. Latins de Notre Panic ct d'autres Ponds, 73. 
Sec also Philologus, 2- (1868), 15J-157; Wollflin, "Eine neue Handschrift des 
Tibull." 

'Denifle et Chatelain, Chartularium, I, 538. 

5 See Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant. 

'Catalogue General des MSS. Tome VII. Paris, 1885, p. 459. no. 811 (I 324). 

7 PrinU'<l in Migne, Patrologiae Lat. 64. [223-1238. Teuffel and Schwabe, His- 
tory of Roman Literature. II. 515. Denifle, Die Universitaten, I, 759, n. jo. 

"Denifle, Pie Universitaten, I, 404. 408, 758. n. 19, 761. 

(592i 



103 

Lucan. 9 Vei'y probably Henri d'Andeli in his Battle of the 
Hcrcn Arts \v;is thinking of Erfurt when he says toward the 
end of liis poem that in Germany the classics still had a home. 10 

(2) The Laborinthus, a poem written probably before 1250, 
but after 1212, recites a large number of classical writers with 
whom the author, a school-master, was familiar. 11 The Laborin- 
thus is usually ascribed to Eberhard of Bethune, the author of 
the Oraecismus (1212), but Thurot believed he had found suffi- 
cient evidence to prove that the Eberhard who wrote the Labor- 
i nth us was a German. 12 

(3) In 1280, Hugo of Trimberg, a school-master of Bam- 
berg, wrote his Registrum multorum auctorum, a long list of 
books with which he says he was familiar. 1 " lie names the fol- 
lowing classical writers: Virgil, Horace. Ovid. Sallust, Cicero. 
Juvenal, Persius, Seneca, Lucan, Statins and Terence, and tries 
to arouse enthusiasm for them because he says that in his day 
they have been neglected. 14 

(4 i Conrad of Mure was canon and chief cantor of the 

"Nicolai cle Bibera, Carmen Satiricwn, (ed., Th. Fischer), vv. 35-44. These 
lines have been conveniently reprinted by Gottlieb, Vber Mittelalterliche Bibli- 
olheken, 440. 

""'Li Breton & li Alemant 

Font encore ,j. poi son commant" 
vv. 446-47. Heron. Ocurrcs de Henri d'Andeli, 59. 

a Laborintus, Tertins Tractatus, de Versificatione ; Leyser, Historia Poetarum 
cl Poematum Medii Aevi, 825-831. This extract has been reprinted in Fabricius, 
Bibliotheca Latina Mediae ct Infimae Aetatis, 11, 487, but more conveniently in Gott- 
lieb, Vber Mittelalterliche Bibliotheken, 443. See also Franke, Zur Geschichte der 
Lateinischen Schulpoesie, 23. 

'* I burnt, "Documents relatif a 1'histoire de la poesie latine an moyen age," in 
Comptes rendus .lead, des Inscript. ct Belles Lettres, (1870), p. 259. Grober, 
Grutldriss, II, pt. T. 381), accepts his conclusion as stated by llaureau. Notices ct 
Extraits de quelques Manuscrits Latins de la Bibl. Sal.. IV. 281. 

'Hugo von Trimberg, Registrum Multorum Auctorum (ed. Huemer). 
""Per experientiam rerum tamen cerno 
Crebris cogitatibtts metumque discerno, 
Quod omne vetus studium perit accedente moderno." 
(Praefatio), vv. 28-30. Huemer, 15. 

(5!)3) 



104 

church of Zurich about 1275. In his Fabularius he discusses the 
fables of the ancient poets in alphabetical order and discloses a 
remarkable acquaintance with classical literature. 15 



III. England. 

ill Roger Bacon id. L292 or 1294 i, although an English- 
man, spent much of his life in France. He had read at least 
from Servius, Lucan, Juvenal, Statins, Horace and Persius, and 
in all probability was well versed in many other classical books. 1 " 

( - ) In the British Museum there is a chronicle of the his- 
tory of (he world, dated 1270, which cites a remarkably large 
number of classical authors. 17 

(3) Ralph de Diceto, Dean of St. Pauls of London, (d. 
1302), in his AbbrcrAationes Chronicorum, published in the Bolls 
Series, refers to the following classical authors: Caesar, Sue- 
tonius, Solinus, Floras, Apuleius, Virgil, Lucan, Martial, Statins, 
Claudian and Vegetius. 18 

(4 i Nicholas Trivet (1258?-1328), an historian and philolo- 
gist who had been a student at Oxford and Paris, commented on 
Livy, Valerius Maximus, Juvenal, Seneca and Ovid. 10 

(5) Walter Burley (1275-1345?) was fairly well acquaint- 
ed with Cicero and other ancient authors.-'" 

(6) The famous bibliophile, Richard of Bury (1281-1346). 
knew most of the books of classical writers as is clear from his 

'''Rockinger, Brief stcller und Formelbucher, 1. 405. 

"The Greek Grammar of Roger Bacon, ed. Nolan-Hirsch, 37. Sec also above, 
p. 45. 11. 50. 

"Cod. Brit. Mus. Addit. 11413 membr. sice. XV. Gottlieb, Cher Mittehlterliche 
Bibliotheken, 446. 

"Radulfi dc Diceto Decani Lundoniensis Opera Historica. Abbreviationes Chron- 
icorum, Vol. I. 3-263, ed. Stubbs, 1876. See also Gottlieb, Uber Mittehlterliche 
Bibliotheken, 447. 

"His/oirc Litteraire de la France. XXIV. .vi,^. Dictionary of National Biog- 
raphy. 

'"Dictionary of National Biography. Voigt, Pic' Wiedcrbelebiing des Classi-S- 
( hen Alterthwns, 1, 37. 

(5! Hi 



105 

Philobiblion. He met Petrarch at Avignon in 1383 hut he never 
shared Petrarch's great enthusiasm for the classics.- 1 



IV. Italy. 

During this period the classics were neglected in Italy about 
as much as elsewhere. The trouvcrc Henri d'Andeli, who 
knew only lawyers and dictatores from Lombardy, saw no hope 
for the ancient authors in Italy.'-- NeA r ertheless, here as well as 
in the rest of Europe, the classics were studied by some, long 
before the days of Petrarch. The renowned Italian poet Jacob 
of Todi (d. 1306) in his Rinunzia del Mondo said a sad farewell 
to his beloved classics, especially the sweet melody of Cicero. 23 
He was the contemporary of men like Albertino Mussato, Bru- 
netto Latini, Dante, and other well-known precursors of the Ital- 
ian revival of classical learning. 24 

In conclusion it may be noted that the well-known Latin 
student songs, the so-called Carmina Burana, many of which date 
from the thirteenth century, are full of classical allusions and 
humanistic feeling. 25 

"Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, II, -'48. 
""Li Breton & li Alemant 

Font encore J. poi son cotnrnant : 
Mes se li Lombart le tenoient, 
Tcil le par estrangleroient." 
vv. 44640. Heron, Oeuvres de Henri d'Andeli, 59. 
""lassovi le scritture antiche, 
die mi eran cotanto amiche, 
et le Tulliane rubriche, 
che mi fean tal melodia." 
Norden, Die Antike Kunstprosa, II, 738. 

M K6rting, Geschichte der Literatur Haliens, III. 302 ff : Norden, Die Antike 
Kunstprosa, IT, 736-730; Voigt, Die Wiederbelebung, I, 11-19; Sandys, ./ History 
of Classical Scholarship, I, 610-616. 

"Carmina Burana, cd. Schmeller, Stuttgart, 1847, 3rd ed. 1894. Selected poems 
translated into English by Symonds, in Wine. Women and Sana: see also the bib 
liography appended in Symonds, and Molinier, Sources de I'Histoire de France, 
II. 210. 



(595) 



APPENDIX III. 

The Text-Book ••Alexander" Used at Toulouse and Other 
Universities of Southern France. 

The writings of Alexander of Villedieu have caused a greal 
deal of difficulty. Thurot and Reichling, in the works cited 
above, p. 37, n. I'd, have done much to clarify matters hut many 
hard problems still remain. It is rather strange thai the bonk 
called Alexander, which is the topic of discussion here, lias never 
attracted the attention of these and other scholars, for its very 
name suggests Alexander of Villedieu. 

It will be necessary to discuss in detail some of his known 
works. 

Soon after the appearance of the Doctrinale he composed 
another metrical work, the Ecclcxiale, which (reals of the art of 
determining church festivals, of ritual, canon law and other 
ecclesiastical matters. It is not a grammatical book and there- 
fore does not concern us except as a factor in determining other 
data.' 

The author himself says in one of his writings that he drew 
the material for both the Doctrinale and the Ecclexiale from a 
previous work of his own. 1 ' He probably referred to the ency- 
clopaedic work which he began with his two companions at 
Paris. 3 

In the prologue to the Doctrinale it is suggested that if 
should be read after the Alphubctum minus and then, whoever 

'Reichling, Das Doctrinale. Einleitung, xxxviii. The unique .MS. of the 
Ecclesiale is at the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, MS. Lat. [4927; 
""Quae doctrinale sunt scripta vel ecclesiali 
Liliro cuncta fere fuerunt contenta priore." 
From the so-called Alphabetum mains quoted by Thurot, De Alexandra de Villa 
Dei Doctrinal i, 14, from Bibl. Xat. MS. Lat. 7682 A. fol. SS. 
"See above, p. 37. 

(596) 



107 

wished to continue reading the books of Alexander, should read 
his Alphabetum maius. 4 Evidently, then, Alexander had writ- 
ten two other works which he called Alphabetum minus and mains 
respectively. 5 

About the former nothing further is known excepl its incipii 
cited by one of the glossators of the Doctrinale. 

The Alphabetum mains probably was that portion of the 
large encyclopaedic work above mentioned (p. 37 i which dealt 
with grammar. 7 It was in prose and, as we have just seen, had 
furnished the chief materials for the Doctrinale. Later, Alex- 
ander set about transforming even the Alphabetum main* into 
verse form, at least in part. Such materials as were already in- 
corporated in the Doctrinale or the Ecclesiale were omitted in 
this new work. 

Today two manuscripts are extant which have the title 
Alphabetum nmius, one al Paris s and the other al Bruges." Both 
plainly state thai Alexander of Villedieu is the author. Unfor- 
tunately 1 have been unable to compare the ^ISS. closely but 
they seem to be very similar. That at Bruges is carefully writ- 
ten and apparently is somewhat longer than the one at Paris. 

The" Alphabetum mains" of these two MSS. is in the form of 
a glossary. It contains, however, not merely the definitions of 
words but also synonyms and all the grammatical accidents of a 
word as case, gender, declination, together with its derivation. 1 " 

'"Post Alphabetum minus haec doctrina legetur; 
Inde leget maius, mea qui documenta sequetur; 
Istc fere totus liber est extractus ;ib illo." 
Doctrinale. Prooemium, vv. 26-28, Reichling, Das Doctrinale. 8. 

'"'For an interesting gloss on the Doctrinale, dated 1301, which takes up the 
question nf these tun books and shows that they cannot be the grammars of 
Donatus and Priscian, see Delisle, "Maitre Y<m." in Histoire Littcraire de la 
France. XXXI. 7. 

"Reichling, Das Doctrinale. Einleitung, xxxv. 
'Reichling, Das Doctrinale. Einleitung, xxxiii. 
T.ibl. Xat. M.S. Lat. 7682 A, fol. 88 ff. 1 13th cent.). 
"Bruges MS. 544 (probably also 13th century). 

"'See the Prologue, vv. 44-70. the most significant portions of which have been 
printed from the Paris MS. by Tliurot. l)e Alexandra de Villa Dei Doctrinali. 13. 

(597) 



108 

It seems to have been designed as a hand-book and dictionary to 
supplement the Doctrinale. A lengthy prologue in verse explains 
the nature of the "Glossary." The author says that it does not 
differ much from an earlier book of his except that the greater 
part of it is in verse whereas the former is in prose. 11 After the 
prologue comes the dictionary arranged alphabetically in such a 
way that vowels come first and the consonants follow, thus: a, 
e, i, o, u, b, c, d, f, etc. The first fifty lines or more are in regu- 
lar verse form with the words defined written in the margin. 12 
After that, throughout the remainder of the work, most of the 
definitions are in prose, but scattered all through are some in 
verse, like the following defining the seven liberal arts: 
"Tres sunt gramatica dialectica retoricamque 
lunge, magistralis has tres trivium vocat usus 
lungis arismetice geometriam subit inde 
Musica quadriviuni tibi perrteit astronomia." 13 
It seems as if Alexander realized that it would not be feasible to 
try to write all or even most of his "Glossary" in verse and that 
therefore he resorted to that form only here and there. Indeed, 
as we have just seen, he had stated in the prologue that he would 
employ it only so far as he saw tit. Perhaps, too, he was uot 
able to carry out his original intentions and therefore incorporat- 
ed verbatim into this new work much of the earlier prose treatise. 
Although both manuscripts of the "Glossary" call it the .17- 
phabetum mams nevertheless this title gives rise to difficulties. 
We have seen that Alexander had thus named the prose work 
which served as the basis for this semi-metrical glossary. It is 

""Jstius est operis eadem sententia primo ; 
Sed tamen in verbis multum variatur ab illo ; 
Prosaque quod dat ibi, volo versibus bic reserari 
Ex magna parte, prout esse videbo necesse, 

Auxilioque metri poterit levins retineri " 

Quoted by Thurot, De Alex, de }'. D. Doctrinali, 13. 

"The Bruges manuscript lias about 37 more such lines than the manuscript 
at Paris. 

"Bruges MS. 544. see under the words artes liberates. Where such defini- 
tions in verse occur the word defined is usually found in the margin except when 
the definition consists of one line only. 

(598) 



109 

of course possible thai lie gave to the "Glossary" as we have it 
the same title which the prose work had had and called them 
both Alphabetum maius. 1 * However, in the prologue to the 
"Glossary" he does riot give it a name although he named both 
the Doctrinale and Ecclesiale in their prefaces. Two glosses of the 
Doctrinale, one dating from the thirteenth century, call the "Glos- 
sary" of Alexander, the Correptio Prisciani, because, they say, 
it corrects I'riscian in many places. 15 This would make it seem 
probable that the "Glossary" had no definite name because Alex- 
ander himself had not given it one and that the title Alphabetum 
Mains of our manuscripts was arbitrarily affixed to them by the 
scribes. 10 

"This is Reicliling's theory. Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, xxxiii. 

"Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, xxxiv ; Thurot, Notices et Extraits, 
XXII, pt. 2, 511. 

"Thurot and Reichling do not agree as regards the Alphabetum mains. 
Thurot, De Alex., 16, believes that it was the large encyclopaedic prose work from 
which the Doctrinale, the Ecclesiale and the metrical "Glossary' were all drawn. 
The "Glossary" found in the Paris MS. 7682 A and entitled Alphabetum mains he 
thinks has been falsely named. He regards the great bulk of it as a mere abridge- 
ment of the original metrical "Glossary" (which he considers lost) of which 
some verses have here and there been retained. Although he briefly mentions 
the Bruges MS. (Notices et Extraits, XXII, pt. 2, ,?o, quoting from Laude, 
Catalogue des Manuscrits de la Bibliothcque de Bruges, 477) and speaks of its 
title as "evidemment fautif," he probably never saw it. 

Reichling, Das Doctrinale, Einleitung, xxxiii, holds that the original Alpha- 
betum mains, which Alexander mention-, in the Doctrinale, was not the large en- 
cyclopaedic work, but simply that portion of it which pertained to grammar alone; 
that from this prose Alphabetum Alexander wrote the metrical "Glossary" which 
he likewise called Alphabetum mains; that the MS. 7682 A of Paris contains only 
the prologue and a small fragment of the versified "Glossary" (referring to the 
fifty odd lines of solid verse following the prologue), the rest of the Paris 
MS. being the untouched portion of the original prose Alphabetum mains. He 
does not mention the Bruges MS., having overlooked the brief notice of it given 
by Thurot. On p. xxxiv he criticizes Thurot for having overlooked the greater 
portion of the Paris MS., which criticism is misdirected for Thurot, Not. et Extr., 
36, expressly states that he considers that portion an abridgement in prose of the 
metrical "Glossary," several verses of the original having been retained. 

My opinion is that the two MSS. in question contain the "Glossary" in the 
shape in which Alexander left it, partly prose, partly verse. The Bruges copy 
seems to lie a revised and a better edition. As stated in the text. I agree with 

(5U9) 



110 

It will be well to summarize the works of Alexander thus 
far discussed : 

ll) An encyclopaedic prose work from which the material 
for the other books was drawn. This is not known to be extant 
today. 

(2 1 The Alphabetum mains in prose, which contained those 
portions of the previous work that pertained to grammar. It 
also has not come down to us. 

(3) The famous Doctrinale in verse drawn largely from the 
Alphabetum mains. 

I 4 I The Ecclesiale, also in verse. Not a grammatical 
treatise. 

(5) The Alphabetum minus, an elementary treatise on 
grammar which has been lost. 

((!) A "Glossary" or grammatical dictionary partly in 
verse, based on the prose Alphabetum mains. It is preserved in 
two MSS., one at Paris, the other at Bruges, both of which give 
it the title Alphabetum mains. No name, however, was assigned 
to it by the author himself in the prologue or conclusion of the 
work. Two "losses of the Doctrinale refer to it as the Correptio 
Prisciani. The title, therefore, is doubtful. 17 

Both Thurot and Reichling point out that although the l><><- 
trinale became so very popular, all the other writings of Alex- 
ander had fallen into almost complete oblivion as early as the 
middle of the thirteenth century. 18 So little was known of them 
that commentators on the Doctrinale often identified the Alpha- 
betum minus and mains with Donatus and Priscian respective- 
ly. 19 

Thurot (as against Reichling) that the work has been given a false title, with- 
out however subscribing to his reasons therefor. The superscription in the 
Bruges MS. — Mag. Alexandri Alphabetum mains — was plainly added by a later hand. 
The two MSS. deserve a closer study which would probably help to solve the rela- 
tionship between the original Alphabetum mains and the semi-metrical "Glossary." 

"Alexander wrote a few more minor works but they do not concern us 
here. See Reichling, Das Doctrinale. Einleitung, xli. 

"Thurot, Notices et li.rtraits. XXII, pt. 2, 2g: Reichling, Das Doctrinale. Ein- 
leitung, xl. 

"See above, p. 107, n. 5. 

(GOO) 



Ill 

There is, however, reason to believe that the "■Glossary" of 
Alexander was used extensively during the fourteenth and fif- 
teenth centuries at some universities of southern France. 

The program of study for the University of Toulouse, dated 
1328, prescribed the following hooks for instruction in gram- 
mar: Priscian, Doctrinal?, Alexander and Ebrardus. 20 The 
same quartette is mentioned in statutes of the University of 
Perpignan 21 and in several other statutes of Toulouse. Very 
probably Alexander is the name of a textbook of grammar or the 
author of such a hook. The natural inference would he that 
the Alexander was the famous Doctrinale, were it not that that 
work of Alexander of Villedieu is included in the list. The book 
Alexander is also listed in several inventories of students' books 
coming from the universities of Toulouse,-- Perpignan, 23 and 
Avignon,- 4 all of which goes to show that it must have been in 
common use at those universities of southern France. 

Beyond these meagre notices nothing more can be learned 
about the enigmatical Alexander. There is a bare possibility 
that it refers to the Alexander of Gautier de Lille.-"' However. 
according to the program of Toulouse just referred to, the mas- 
ters in grammar were to read Priscian, the Doctrinale and Alex- 
ander in the morning and in the afternoon Ebrardus, de Historiis 
Alexandri, etc.-' 1 It seems altogether probable that the phrase, 
<l< Historiis Alexandri, refers to the Alexandreis of Gautier and 
that therefore another explanation must be sought to determine 
the identity of our Alexander. 

May not the text-hook Alexander have been the "Glossary" 

M Fournier, Statuts, I, 501. By Ebrardus is meant the Craecismus of Eberhard 
of Bethuiu". See above, pp. 50 ff. 

-'Fournier, Statuts. II. 678. 

"Fournier, Statuts. I, 704 [67] (A. D. 14.^3 1 

"Fournier, Statuts, II. 689 I A. I), e. 1400). 

"Fournier, Statuts. II. 458 [140], 460 [35] (A. D. r4S3). 

"'See above, p. .'4. Pierre Vidal, Histoire </<• la I'illc de Perpignan, 29,3, hap 
pening upon the title Alexander in an inventory of books says, note 2, "C'est 
-.mis doute le roman d'Alexandre, ou la Geste d'Alissandre, attribute a Thomas de 
Kent." 

'See above, p. 50. 

(601) 



112 

of Alexander of Villedieu as found today in the MSS. of Paris and 
Bruges and there named Alphabetum mains? Although all the 
evidence is circumstantial there is much in favor of this hypothe- 
sis. In all probability the Alexander was some kind of a gram- 
matical treatise since it is always mentioned along with the well- 
known grammars Priscian, the Doctrinale and the Graecismus. 
It has been shown thai the "Glossary" of Alexander of Villedieu 
did not have a definite title. In the south of France they may 
well have called it simply Alexander after the author of the well- 
known Doctrinale. The passage has already been quoted in 
which Alexander of Villedieu advises his readers to supplement 
the Doctrinale by his Alphabetum mains.-' Since the "Glossary" 
in question was drawn almost entirely from that prose work it 
surely in like manner was designed to supplement the Doctrinale. 
Now in the programs of both Toulouse and Perpignan, the lec- 
tures on the Doctrinale preceded those on the Alexander which 
seems to indicate that the latter was to amplify the former. In 
the universities of southern France grammar was studied more 
extensively than in any other part of Europe which may account 
for the fact that the Alexander was read there and not elsewhere. 
It may therefore he assumed with a high degree of probabil- 
ity that in addition to the Doctrinale the "Glossary" of Alexander 
of Villedieu called Alexander, was an important grammatical 
text-book at some medieval universities. 28 

2 'See above, p. 107, n. 4. 

28 I take this opportunity to thank again Professor C. Molinier of the Univer 
sity of Toulouse who has done me the favor of searching at Toulouse for MSS 
of the Alexander but without success. 



((JOl'l 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I. PRIMARY SOURCES, 
i. Manuscript Souri es 

Alexander of Villediku. Alphdbetum Maius (so-called), (i) Bibliotheque Xa- 
tionale, MS. Lat. 7682 A, fol. 88 ff., "Incipit maius alphabetum magistri alex 
ander villa dei de expositionibus dictionum." (2) Bruges MS. 5+4. "Magis- 
tri Alexandri Alphabetum mains" (written by a later hand). 

Alexander of Villedieu. Ecclesiale. Bibliotheque Nationale, MS. Lat. 14,927, 
fol. 164 v° ff. 

John Garland. Claz^s compendia. (1) Bruges MS. 546, fos. 25 r°-42 v° ; (2") 
Gonville and Cains College MS. 136, p. 166 ff ; (3) Ibid., MS. 385. P- -?;i ff. , 

John Garland. Compendium grammatice. (1) Gonville and Caius College MS. 
385, p. 211 ff ; (2) Ibid., MS. 593. P- 54 ff: (3) Bruges MS. 546. fos. 89 r°-i45 
v°, (here wrongly entitled "Ars versificatoria.") 

John Garland. — Accentarius. (1) Gonville and Caius College MS. 385, p. 68 ff; 
(2) Bruges MS. 546, fos. 53 v°-77 r° (entitled, Ars lectoria ecclesiac). 

John Garland. Morale Scholarium. (1) Bruges MS. 546, fos. 2-12 r° ; (2) 
Gonville and Caius College MS. 385, pp. 302-316; (3) Bodleian. MS. Rawlin- 
son G. 06, pp. 154-176. (This third copy I have not seen). 

John Garland. Parisians poetria. Bruges MS. 546, fos. 149-174 v°. "Incipit 
Parisiana poetria magistri Johannis anglici de Garlandia de arte prosaica. 
metrica et rithmica et sumitur titulus a prima fronte libri." 

Anonymous Vocabulary. Its incipit reads, Sacerdos ad altare accessttrus. Gon- 
ville and Caius College MS. 385, pp. 7-67. On title page wrongly ascribed to 
John Garland by a later hand, thus: "Dictionarius magistri Johannis de Gar- 
landia cum commento." 

2. Printed Sources. 

Alexander Neckam. De Naturis Reruin, ed. by T. Wright. London, 1863 (Rolls 
Series). 

Since Alexander Xeckam was one of the great intellectual lights at 
Paris in the last quarter of the twelfth century his works are valuable for 
that critical period when universities were taking definite form. Much 
must still be done to make all his books accessible. The work that has 
been done is cited by Haskins, "A List of Text-Books from the Close of 
the Twelfth Century," in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, XX 
i 1 ono), 79 n. 3. 

(603) 



114 

Alexander of Villedieu. Das Doctrinale des Alexander de Villa Dei, ed. by D. 
Reichling, Berlin, 1893 (In Monumenta Germaniae Pacdagogica, XII 1 

The standard critical edition of this famous grammatical text-book, 
accompanied by an excellent introduction and a list of .M SS. and printed 
editions. This list is by no means complete and many additions have al- 
ready been made by scholars, especially Delisle of Paris. See the very 
thorough review by G. Paris in Romania. XXIII (1894), 588-594. 
Auvray, 1.. "Documents Orleanais du Xlle el du XHIe Siecle extraits du Formu- 
laire de Bernard de Meung," Orleans. 1892. Extract from Mcmoires de la 
Socicte Archeologique tic I'Orleanais, XXIII. 

Throws light on the early history of the ars dictaminis at Orleans. 

Bacon Roger. Opera quaedam hactetius inedita, ed. by J. S. Brewer, London, [859, 

( Rolls Series No. 15). 

Contains the Opus tertium, Opus minus, Compendium philosophiae, 
with a good introduction. Was instrumental in arousing interest in Roger 
I '.aeon which has grown steadily ever since. 
Bacon, Room;. Opera quaedam hactenus inedita, ed. by J. S. Brewer, London. 1859. 
Oxford, 1807. Xew ed. (iooo) with a supplementary volume containing "Re- 
vised Text of First Three Parts; Corrections; Emendations: and Additional 
Notes." 

The standard edition of Bacon's most important work, with an in 
troduction and a line abstract in English. 
II mux, Roger. The Greek Grammar .0 Roan- Bacon and a Fragment of His 
Hebrew Grammar, ed. by E. Nolan, and S. A. Ilirsch. Cambridge Univer- 
sity Press. 1002. 

Sheds new light on Bacon's attempt to revive the study of Greek, 
Hebrew ami Arabic and to encourage a deeper study of Latin language 
and literature. 
Brewer, J. and Bridges, J. See Bacon. 

Caesar of Heisterbach. Dialogus Miraculorum, ed. by Strange. 2 Vols. Paris, 
[851. 

This and other collections of stories or exempla designed especially 
for the use of preachers, illustrate many phases of the intellectual life of 
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. I shall here mention two other fa- 
mous collections ; ( 1 ) Exempla of Jacques de I 'itry, ed. by T. F. Crane, 
London, 1890; (2) Anecdotes Historiques . . . d'Etienne de Bourbon, eel. 
by Lecoy de la Marche, Paris, [877, and for further literature on the sub- 
ject refer to the excellent bibliography by Ilaskins, in Amer. Hist. Ret., 
X. 4. n. 2. 
Carmina Burana. Latcinisehc uud Deutsche Lieder und Gedichte einer Hand- 
schrift des XiH Jahrhunderts, ed. by J. A. Schmeller, 3rd ed. Breslau, [894. 
The first edition appeared in Bibliothek des Literarischen Vereins in Stuttgart, 
XVI (1847), 1-275. 

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115 

This renowned collection of medieval Latin student songs shows how 
classical knowledge and humanistic feeling persisted among the students 
in an age when the classics were being neglected in the schools. For Eng- 
lish translations of the choicest songs see Symonds, Wine Women and 
Song, 1884; a new cheaper edition by Chatto and Windus, London, has 
appeared in 1907. For the most convenient bibliographies on Goliardic 
literature see p. 206 of this last edition of Symonds, and Molinier, Sources 
de I'Histoire de France, II, 210. 
Conrad of Hirschau. Conradi Hirsaugensis Dialogus super auctores sine Didas- 
colon. Wurzburg, [889, 

1 onrad of Hirschau lived about 1070-1150 and in this work drew up a 

remarkably long list of classical authors which is valuable for a study of 

twelfth century humanism. 

Cornutus. Die Disticha Cornuti, auch Cornutus oder Distigium des Joh. v. Gar- 

landia genannt, und der Scholiast Cornutus mil dan text des Cornutus anti- 

quus und novus. Program der Kgl. Studien Knstalt, Strassburg. ed. by 

H. Liebl. Straubing, [888. 

1 hie of the popular Latin reading hook- which were called adores 
from the thirteenth century onward. It L usually ascribed to John Garland. 
Delisle, L. /.;• Formulaire de Treguier et les Ecoliers Bretons des Ecoles (FOr 
leans au Commencement du XlVe Siecle. Orleans. 1890. Also found in Mem. 
de hi Socictc Archeol. — hist, de I'Orleanais, XXTII (1892), 41 (.4. and in a 
somewhat abridged form in Histoire Litteraire de la France, XXXI 1 [893 1, 25 
This formulary (Delisle prints in an appendix those litters which 
refer to the University of Orleans) reveals a large number of new fact 
about the arts ,,t ( Irleans during the early fourteenth century. 
Denifle, II. et Chatelain, A. Chartularium Universitatis Parisiensis sub Aus- 
piciis Consilii Geueralis Facultatum Parisiensium ex Diversis Bibliothecis 
Tabularisque Collegit el cum Authenticis Chartis Contulit II. D. Auxiliante 
•a. I. 1200-1286; II. 1286-1350; III, 1350-1394; IV, [394-1452. 
Pari-, 1889-1897 

Auctarium Chartularii Universitatis Parisiensis. Liber Procura 

torum Yationis Ang . inae 1 llemaniae) in Universitate Parisiensis. I. 
I.;.,;, IJi'i; II. [4C6-I466. Paris. [894 and 1S97. 

This monumental collection of the medieval statutes pertaining to the 

i French university is the crowning work of the fine scholarship of 

Denifle. It lias been much used hut not exhausted by all the subsequent 

writers on medieval universities. 

Denifle, H. "Die Statuten der Juristen-Universitat Bologna 1317-1347, und deren 

Verhaltniss zu jenen Paduas, Perugias und Florenz," in Archil 1 fur Literatur- 

und Kirchengeschichte, III (1887), [96-397. 

A preliminary piece of reediting of tin- sources for Bologna which has 
since been carried to completion by Italian scholars. 

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Ill) 

Devic, C. et Vaissette, J. Histoire Generate de Languedoc. Toulouse, 1872 if. 
15 Vols. 

The monumental history of southern France consisting of original 

sources, notes and running accounts. Vol. VII, 434-619, contains the 

"Statuts et Privileges de l'Universite de Toulouse (1233-1436)," which 

have since been republished with many additions by Fournier, Statuts, I. 

Du Cange, C. Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis. Niorti, 1883-87. 10 Vols. 

The latest editon of this indispensable dictionary of medieval Latin. 
Eberhard of Bethune. Eberhardus Bethuniensis Graecismus. Ad fidem librorum 
manu scriptorum recensuit, lectionum varietatem adiecit, indices locupletissi- 
mos et imaginem codicis Melicensis photolithographicam addidit Prof. Dr. Joh. 
Wrobel. Vratislaviae, 1887. (Corpus graiiimaticorum medii aevi. Vol. I). 

This latest edition of the Graecismus is by no means so well edited as 
the Doctrinale by Reichling. 
Eberhard. Laborinthus. In Leyser, P., Historia Poetarum et Poematum Medii 
Aevi, 795-854- 

This poem which throws much light on the study of the classics dur- 
ing the thirteenth century is usually ascribed to Eberhard of Bethune, 
but the author was a German monk named Eberhard. 
Fierville. Ch. Une Grammaire Latine Inedite du XHIe Siecle. Paris. 1886. 

The finding of this grammar, which was written in northern Italy 

during the second half of the thirteenth century by a certain Caesar, has 

occasioned a revision of our knowledge of the teaching of grammar in 

Italy during that century. 

Fournier, M. Les Statuts et Privileges des Universites Francoises depuis leur 

Fondation jusqu'en 1789. 4 Vols. Paris, 1890-94. 

This was an ambitious attempt to do for all the other French univer- 
sities what Denifle was doing for Paris in his Chartulariuin. The Statuts 
were edited hastily, which left much room for criticism of all kinds. 
Denifle and Fournier engaged in a pen-battle on this subject. See Denifle, 
Pes Universites Francoises au Moyen Age. Avis ^P Marcel Fournier, 
Paris, 1892. 

On the whole, this collection has not been utilized by scholars to such 
advantage as has the Chartularium of Paris. 
Friedlander, E. and Malacola, C. (eds.) Acta Sationis Germanicae Universi- 
tatis Bononiensis. Berlin, 1887. 

Supplements the Statuti by Malagola. 
Gaudenzi, A. Statuti [delle Societa] del Populo di Bologna de Seculo XIII. 2 
Vols. Rome. 1888, 1896. 

Often the statutes of the city afford glimpses of conditions at the 
University of Bologna. 
Gerald de Barri. Giraldi Cambrensis Opera, ed. by J. S. Brewer. (Rolls Series 
No. 21). 8 Vols. London. 1861 ff. 

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117 

Although Gerald de Barri was a native of Wales he spent most of 
his time at Paris and Oxford. He wrote freely about himself and about 
the intellectual conditions of the days when the great universities were 
young. His works most useful for our purpose are: (i) De Gestis 
Giraldi, Vol. I; (2) Gemma Ecclesiac, Vol. II; (3) Speculum Ecclesiae, 
Vol. IV. 
Germatn, A. Cartulaire dc I'Universite dc Montpellier. 1890. 

These and additional documents relating to the University of Mont- 
pellier are now more conveniently found in Fonrnier, Statuts. 
Guerard, (ed.). Cartulaire dc Notre-Dame dc Paris. 4 Vols. Paris, 1850 ff. 
In Collection des Cartulaires dc Fiance, Tome IV ff, in Collection de Docu- 
ments Incdits sur I'Histoire dc France. 

This cartulary gives some information about the schools on the is- 
land of the Seine in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 
Halm, C. F. (ed). Rhclores Latini Minores. Leipzig, 1863. 

Contains most of the books on formal rhetoric used in the Middle 
Ages. It is a collection like that of Keil for grammar. 
Haskixs. C. II. "A list of Text-books from the Close of the Twelfth Century." 
in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. XX (1909), 75-94. 

Edits the most interesting portion of a treatise giving a list of text 
books, including many of the ancient classics. It has hitherto been 
ascribed to John Garland, but from internal evidence Professor Haskins 
has shown that the tract was in all probability written by Alexander 
Xeckam and reflects conditions at Paris towards the close of the twelfth 
century. 
HaureAU, B. Notices ct Extraits de Ouclqucs Manuscrits Latins dc la Bibliothcque 
Nationale. 6 Vols. Paris, 1890-93. 

The chief purpose is to bring to light authors of anonymous manu- 
scripts. Contains many extracts. An invaluable mine of information sup- 
plementing the Xoticcs ct Extraits des Manuscrits dc la Bibliothcque 
Nationale ct Autres Bibliotheques. 
Henri d'AxnF.u. Ocuvrcs dc Henri d'Andcli. Trouvcre Normand du Xllle Siccle. 
Publiees avec Introduction, Variantes. Xotes et Glossaire par A. Heron, for the 
Societe Rouennaise de Bibliophiles. Rouen, 1880. (Limited edition.) 

Contains the latest and best edition of The Battle of the Seven Arts. 
a poem which is full of information about the studies at Paris and Orleans 
about the middle of the thirteenth century. See review by G. Paris in 
Romania. XI, 137. It supersedes the older edition of the poem by Jubinal, 
A. Ocuvrcs Completes de Rutebeuf, 2 Vols. Paris, 1839; 2nd ed. in 3 
Y"ls., Paris, 1874-75. The poem is found in Vol. HI ( Additions.) It was 
reprinted by Jubinal in a rare little pamphlet entitled La Querelle des 
Anciens ct des Moderucs an XIHe Siccle on La Bataille des I'll Arts. 
Paris (F. Henri), 1875. 

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118 

Heron, A. See Henri d'Andeli. 

Hugo of Trimberg. Registrum Maltorum Auctorum, ed. by J. Huemer. Wien, 

1888 (Holder). Also found in Sitzungsberichte der Philologisch-Historischen 

Classe der L\ Akademie der Wissenschaften. Wien, CXVI, I Heft, 145 (1S88). 

A remarkable 1 i — t of books, including many ancient classics, drawn up 

by a German schoolmaster in 1.280. 

Jean de Hauteville. Johannis de Altavilla Architremius, ed by T. Wright, 

Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets, 1. 240-392. 

The author of this poem, a Frenchman who spent most of his time in 
England, gives us some interesting details about the life and work at the 
University of Paris early in the thirteenth century. 
John Garland. Johannis de Garlandia De Triumfihis Ecclesiae (Latin Poem of 
the 13th Cent. 1. ed. by T. Wright. London, 1856. (Roxburghe Club). 

The best known work of John Garland. Gives us a few facts about 

his life and the political history of his lime, hut of no further value for 

our purpose. An analysis of the poem by Lc Clerc may be found in 

Histoire Litteraire de la France, XXII, 79-95. 

John Garland. Poetria Magistri Johannis Auglici de Arte Prosayca, Metric,: 

el Rithmica, in Romanische Forschungen, XIII 1 1902), 833-956, ed by G. Mari. 

The portion on "Rithmica" is omitted having been previously edited by Mari in 

his hook. / Trattati Medievali de Ritmica Latino, Milano, 1899, 35-80. Rock- 

inger, Brief steller, 1. 485, also prints extracts from the Poetria. 

This is a work of John Garland on the ars dictaminis. It is similar 
to the Parsiana poetria noted among the manuscript sources above. The 
latter seems to be a more extended work than this printed by Mari. 
John Garland. Johannis de Garlandia Opuscula, in Migne, Patrologiae Lot., [50, 
1575 ff- 

Contains the Opus Synonymuiii anil fragments of other minor works 
1 if John ( larland. 
John Garland. Dictionarius. In Scheler, Lexicographie; which see. 
John 01 Salisbury. Johannes Saresberiensis Opera Omnia. Migne, Patrologiae 
Lai., 100. Paris, 1855. An older edtion of bis works is Giles, J. A., Joannis 
Saresberiensis Opera Omnia, 5 Vols. Oxford. 1848. 

Ihe works of John of Salisbury are the lust sources for the studj of 
the humanism of the twelfth century. The Policraticus has just been re- 
edited by C. Webb, Clarendon Press, 1909. 
Keil, II. G. T. Grannnatici Latini. 7 Vols. Lipsiae, [855-80 

Vols. II and III contain the works of Priscian; Vol. IV those of 
Donatus. 
Lanclois, Ch. V. "Formulaires de Lettres <\u Xlle, du XII Ie. et du XIVc Siecle;" 
six articles in Notices et Extraits, (1) XXXIV, pt. I. i-3_'; (_') Ibid.. 305-322; 
(3 and 4) Ibid., pt. II. [-29; (5) XXXV, pt. II. 409-434: (6) Ibid., 793-830. 

Contain collections of material, with introductions, for a history of the 

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119 

ars dictaminis in France. The third article, referring to Orleans, is espe 
cially valuable. 
Leyser, Polycarpus. Historia Poetarum et Poematum Medii Aevi. Halae-Mag- 
deburgi, 1721. A new edition with no changes except on title-page, in 1741. 

Prints some poems in full and many extracts. Although very old 
this plump little volume is still indispensable especially for a study of tin- 
Latin poets of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 
Malagola. C. Statuti delle Universita e dei Collegi dcllo Studio Bolognese. 
Bologna, 1888. 

Contains the statutes of the University of Bologna, well edited. 
Maki, G. See John Garland. 

Matthew Paris. Matthaei Parisiensis Chronica Majora. 7 Vols., ed. by II. R. 
Luard, London, 1872 (Rolls Series). 

This famous chronicle often throws side-lights on intellectual condi- 
tions on the continent as well as in England during the first half of the 
thirteenth century. 
Maximianus. The Elegies of Maximianus, ed. by R. Webster. The Princeton 
Press, 1900. 

The most recent edition with full bibliography to previous editions. 

The Elegies were written about 600 A. D. and became very popular in the 

medieval schools, but were often attacked because of their indecencies as 

for example by Alexander of Villedieu in his Doctrinale. 

Munimenta Academica, or Documents relative to Academical Eife and Studies at 

Oxford, ed. by H. Anstey. 2 Vols., London, 1868. (Rolls Series No. 50). 

The original documents illustrative of academical and clerical life and 
studies at Oxford during the Middle Ages. With a lengthy introduction. 
NiCOLAl DE BlBERA. Carmen Satirintm. ed. by Th. Fischer, in Geschichtsqucllen 
der Provins Sachsen, Erstcr Band. Erfurter Denkmaler, Halle, 1870. 

A source for the study of the classics in Germany during the thir- 
teenth century. 

Nolan-HirSch. See Bacon. 

Xotiees ct Extraits des Manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale el Autres Bibli- 
otheques. Publies par 1'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres. 37 Vols. 
Paris, 1787-1902. Indexes in Vols. 15 and 30. 

Those volumes of this splendid collection which were especially use 
fill arc quoted separately under the names of their authors. 
Peter of Blois. Petri Blesensis Opera Omnia. Migne. Patroloyiae Eat., 207. 

The letters of Peter of Blois are good sources for the humanism of 
the twelfth century. 
Ps\ ino Boethius. Etc Disciplina Scholarium. Migne. Patrologiae Eat., 64, 
I22.V [238. 

Far from being written by Boethius this tract was composed in the 

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120 

thirteenth century. It has references to the study of the ancient classics. 
The University of Paris is mentioned in it. 
Ralph i>f. Diceto. Radulfi de Diceto Decani Lundoniensis Opera Historica Ab- 
breviationes Chronicorum. Ed. by W. Stubbs, 1876 (Rolls Series). 

Reveals exceptional acquaintance with classical books in England 
about 1 300. 
Ranieri da Perugia. Ars Notaria, ed. by A. Gaudenzi. Bologna, 1890. 

The earliest of the famous text-books on the ars notaria which flour- 
ished at the University of Bologna in the thirteenth century. Well edited. 
Rf.h hlinc, D. See Alexander of Villedieu. 

Rockinger, L. Bricfstcllcr und Formclbiichcr des F.lftcu bis Vierzehnten 
Jahrhunderis. II Abtheilungen. In Qucllcn cur Bayerischen und Dcutsclicn 
Geschi'chte. Neunter Band. Miinchen, 1863-64. 

Still the best collection of sources for the study of the ars dictaminis. 

Preceded by a valuable but very diffuse and pedantic introduction. 

Scheler. M. A. Lexicographic Latine dit XHe ct du XHIe Siecle. Trois Traites 

de Jean dc Garlande, Alexandre Neckaril, et Adam du Petit-Pont. Leipzig, 

1867. Also in Jahrbuch fur Romanische und Englische Literatur, von L. 

Lemcke, VI. 141-162. 

Tn a discussion based upon the Dictionaries, the de utcnsilium npmi- 
nibits and Adae Parvipontani of these authors, Scheler presents much new 
information and makes several good suggestions in regard to the study 
of the language and literature of the thirteenth century. 
Schepps, G. See Conrad of Hirschau. 

Thurot, Ch. Notices et Extraits de divers MSS. Latins pour servir a I'Histoire 
des Doctrines Grammaticales an Mnyen Age. In Notices ct Extraits des Manu- 
scrits dc la Bibliotheque Nationale, XXII, pt. 2. Paris. 1868. 

A masterpiece of its kind which has served ever since its publication 
as an important basis for all subsequent works cm the study of grammar 
in the Middle Ages. 
Wright, T. (ed.) Anglo-Latin Satirical Poets. 2 Vols. London, 1872 (Rolls 
Series). 

Contains many of the important Latin poems written especially in the 
twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, e. g. John of Hauteville's Archi- 
llircuiiis and Alain de Lille's Anti Claudianus 
Wrobel, J. See Eberhard of Bethune. 



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II. SECONDARY WORKS. 

AbeLSON, P. The Seven Liberal Arts. A Study in Medieval Culture. X. Y., 1906. 

A doctor's thesis, Columbia University. The most recent treatment 

of this subject. Contains many new contributions. The author had not 

seen Appuhn, Deis Trivium, and Clerval, Lcs Ecoles de Chartres. 

Allbutt. T. C. Science and Medieval Thought. The Harveian Oration, Oct. 18, 

1900. London, 1901. 

A summary of, rather than a contribution to the subject. 
Appuhn, A. Das Trivium and Quadriviuiu in Tlieoric uud Praxis. I Theil, Das 
Trivium. Erlangen, 1900. 

A doctor's thesis, University of Erlangen. Pt. II has never ap- 
peared. The author relies a good deal upon Specht, Geschichte des l'u 
terrichtswesens, but also exhibits a great deal of independent research. 
Babler. J. J. Beitrdge cur Geschichte der Lateinischen Grammatik un Mittelalter. 
Halle, 1885. 

Supplements Thurot, Notices el Extraits, XXII, pt. 2. 
Barnard, H. An Account of Universities and other Institutions of Superior In- 
struction in Different Countries. (National Education, Pt. III). Revised ed. 
Hartford, 1873. 

Contains translations and reprints, such as (p. 271) "The Universi- 
ties of the Middle Ages," a translation of Savigny, F. C, Geschichte des 
Romischen Rechts ini Mittelalter. HI, 152-419; and (p. 321) "Universities 
— Past and Present," a translation of Dollinger, Die I 'niversitaten Sons! 
und Jet st. 
Bourgain, L. La Chaire Frangaise an Xlle Steele, d'apres les MSS. Paris, 1879. 
This book is not so good as Lecoy de la Marche, La Chaire Tran- 
caise an Moyen Age, which treats the thirteenth century more particularly. 
These two books on preaching in the Middle Ages have made a vast con 
tribution to our knowledge of medieval culture. For the utilization of 
sermons as sources for university life, see Haskins. "The University of 
Paris in the Sermons of the Thirteenth Century," Amcr. Hist. Rev.. X, 
1-27. 
Boutaric, E. Vincent de Beauvais, el la Connaissance de I'Antiquitc Classique an 
Treizicme Siecle. Paris, 1N75. Also found in Revue des Questions Histori- 
ques, XVII. 5-57. 

The best study of Vincent of Beauvais' knowledge of the ancient 
classics. 
Bresslau, 11. Handbuch der Urkundenlehre fur Deutschland und //alien. I, Leip- 
zig, 1889. 

For our purpose this splendid manual is useful especially for its 
sketch of the ars dietaminis and ars notaria. Only one volume has ap 
peared. 

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122 

Hi inNSKi, A. Die Universitat Paris uud die Fremden an derselben im Mittelalter. 
Berlin, 1876. 

Reveals the remarkably large number of famous foreign profes- 
sors and students at the University of Paris. A piece of work that should 
be followed up for this and other medieval universities. 
Cantor, M. Vorlesungen iiber Geschichte der Mathematik. 3 Vols. 2nd edition. 
Leipzig, 1894- 1900. 

The most authoritative general history of mathematics. Vols. 1 ( to 
1200) and If (1200-1668) fall within our period. 
Cakre, G. L'Enseignemeni Secondaire a Troyes, tin Moyen Age a la Revolution. 
Paris, 1888. 

I have had occasion to mention this study which is one of many books 
of its kind tracing the history of secondary education in various French 
towns down to 1789. 
Catalogue General des MSS. des Bibliothcques des Departments. Paris, 1855. 
Catalogue General des MSS. des Bibliothcques Publiques de France. Paris, 1886 

1892. 
Charles. E. Roger Baron, sa I'ie. scs Ouvrages, ses Doctrines. Bordeaux, 1861. 

Although old it is still the best biography. 
Chevalier. TJ. Repertoire des Sources Historique du Moyen Age. Bio-biblio- 

graphie. 2 Vols. New edition. Paris, 1905-1907. 
Clark, V. S. Studies in the Latin of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. X. V., 
1900. 

A doctor's thesis, Columbia University. Interesting, but covers too 
wide a field. 
Clerval, A. Fes Ecoles de CKartrcs an Moyen Age. du Ve an XI' le Steele. Paris. 
I895. 

An excellent monograph mi an important subject. Clerval has utilized 
an enormous amount of unpublished material which throws light on many 
things of general interest in the intellectual history of the Middle Ages. 
Comparetti, P. Vergil in the Middle Ages. Tr. by E. Beneckc. London, 1895. 
Presented in a somewhat popular style but scholarly. Studies of the 
fortunes of other classical books during the Middle Ages would be wel 
cume. See below, under Manitius. 
Compayre, G. Abelard and the Origin and Early History of Universities. X. V., 
1902. 

A text fur schools or for general reader-. 
Cuissard, C. F'Ftude du Grec a Orleans depuis le FXc Siccle jusqu'au Milieu du 
XVIIIe Siccle. Orleans. 1883. 

In addition to its special topic it throws some light on other condi- 
tions of the schools at Orleans, especially in the critical twelfth and thir- 
teenth centuries. 
Delegue. R. L'Universite de Paris (1224-1244). Paris, 1902. 

A -hurt contribution to the external history of the university. 
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123 



Delisle, L. "Les Ecoles d'Orleans an Xlle et au XHIe Siecle," in Annuaire Bul- 
letin ilc la Societe de I'Histoire de France, VII (1869), 139-147. 

A short but very important study because it revealed the existence of 
schools at Orleans where the ancient classics and the ars dictaminis flour- 
ished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. 
Delislk. L. "Alexandre de Villedieu et Guillaume le Moine de Villedieu," in 
Bibliothcque de I'Ecole des Chartes, LV (1804), 488 ft. See also LVII (1001), 
158 ff. 

Delisle here describes some manuscripts of the Doctrinale of Alex- 
ander of Villedieu which Reichling had overlooked. 
Delisle, L. "Maitre Von. Grammarien," in Histoire Litteraire de la Frame, 
XXXI (1893). 1-21. 

Prints (on p. 7) a gloss on the Doctrinale which throws light on the 
works of Alexander of Villedieu. 
Delisle, L. "Notice sur une Summa Dictaminis jadis conservee a Beauvais," in 
Notices et Bxtraits, XXXVI. pt. 1 (1899), 171-205. 

Contains a good introduction on the ars dictaminis. 
Delisle. L. "X'ote sur le Dictamen de Poncius Provincialis," in Bulletin de la Sac. 
Archeol de I'Orleanais, IV (1862-67). 42. 

Throws light on the itinerant dictator Ponce of Provence at Toulouse 
and elsewhere. 
Delisle, L. Inventaire des MSS. de I'Abbaye de St. Victor conserves a la Bibli- 
othcque Imperiale sous les Xnmcros 14232-15175. Bauds Latins. Paris. 1869. 
Delisle. L. Inventaire des MSS. Latins de Notre-Dame et d'autres Bonds con- 
serves a la Bibliothcque Nationale sous les Xos. 16719-18613. Paris, 1871. 
Delisle, I.. Inventaire des MSS. de la Sorbonne. conserves a la Bibliotheque Im- 
periale sous les Xos. 151 76-16718. Paris, 1870. 

These inventories are useful for a study of the books, especially the 
ancient classics, extant at Paris during the Middle Ages. 
Denifle, P. H. Die F.ntstehung der Universitdten ties Mittclultcrs bis 1400. Vol. 
I. Berlin. 1885. 

The epoch-making book in the history of medieval universities. A 
second volume has never appeared. 
DeWulf, M. Histoire de la Philosophic Medievale. Louvain, 1000. 2nd en- 
larged edition, 1905. English tr. by Coffey, P. History of Mediaeval Phil- 
osophy. Longmans, Green & Co. 1910. 

In form a text-book, but on the whole the best brief account of 
medieval philosophy. Excellent bibliographies. DeWulf himself has 
brought the English translation up to date. 
DeWulf, M. Introduction a la Philosophic Neo-Scolastique. Louvain and Paris, 
1004. English translation by Coffey. P. Scholasticism (lid mid Xe;c. An 
Introduction to Scholastic Philosophy Medieval and Modem. Dublin and Lon- 
don, 1907. 

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124 

Contains a remarkable plea for medieval scholasticism, claiming 
that like Gothic architecture it has been too long neglected because of the 
sneers of the humanists. 
Dictionary of National Biography. Ed. by L. Stephen, and S. Lee. 66 Vols. 

1885-1901. New cheaper edition, 1009. 
Du Bon.AY. C. E. Historia Universitatis Parisiensis a Carolo M. ad nostra Tem- 
pera. 6 Vols. Paris, 1665-73. 

Until superseded by the works of Denifle and Rashdall, this remained 
the standard history of the great French university. It contains a vast 
amount of learned lore, ill-arranged however and full of mistakes. 
Duchesne, L. "Note sur l'Origine du 'curstis' ou Rythmic Prosaique," in Bibl. de 

I'Ecole des Chartcs. L (1889), 161 ff. 
Ebert, A. Allgemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters im Abendlande. 
3 Vols. Leipzig, 1874-1887. 

This is usually considered the standard work on medieval literature 
but it is growing decidedly antiquated and must be checked up constantly 
by Grober, Sandys, etc. 
Eckstein. F. A. Lateinischer Unterricht, in Schmid, Encyklopadie des gesammten 
Ersiehungs und Unterrichtswesens, IV, 204-405. 

Necessarily brief, but accurate within its limits and accompanied by 
good bibliographies. 
Fabricius. J. A. Bibliotheca Latina Mediae et Infimae el Aetatis. 6 Vols. Ham- 
burgi, 1734-46. New edition, 6 Vols, in 3, Pativi, 1754. 

This old encyclopaedic history of medieval writers is still very useful. 
Felder. H. Geschichte der Wissenschaftlichen Studien im Franziskanerorden bis 
urn die Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts. Freiburg im Breisgau, 1904. 

The latest, must extended and best treatment of the learning of the 
Minorites in the thirteenth century and their relations with the univer- 
sities. See especially the third division. Valuable also for the author's 
appreciation of Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon. 
Fitting, Ft. Die Anf'dnge der Rechtsschule cu Bologna. Berlin and Leipzig, 1888. 
Written on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the University of 
Bologna. Useful for our purpose especially for the light cast on the 
study of law in connection with rhetoric throughout the early Middle 
Ages. 
Foulques de Villaret, Mlle de. "L'Enseignement des Lettres et des Sciences dans 
l'Orleanais jusqu' a la Fondation de l'Universite d'Orleans," in Memoires de la 
Societe Archeologique et Historiquc de l'Orleanais. NIV (1875), 299 ft'. 

One of the earliest studies calling attention to the great importance 

of Orleans in the intellectual history of northern France during the 

twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Much new material has been found 

since the appearance of this article. 

Fournier, P. Les Offieialites an Moyen Age; Etudes sur V Organisation, la 

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125 

Competence ct la Procedure des Tribunaus Ecclesiastiques Ordinaires en 
France, 1180-1328, 1880. 

Pt. 1, ch. VI, contains an interesting account of notaries at work in 
the chanceries of church and state. This book is out of print and rather 
difficult to obtain. 
Fournier. M. Histoire de la Science du Droit en France. 3 Vols. Paris, 1892. 

Vol. Ill contains an account of French universities and the teaching 
of law in France in the Middle Ages. 
Fourxier, M. "Les Bibliotheques des Colleges de l'Universite de Toulouse," in 

Bibl. de VEcole des Charles. LI (1S90), 443-4/6. 
Fournier, M. "La Bibliotheque de l'Universite d'Orleans," in Nouvelle Revue 
Historique de Droit Francois (1890), 143 ff. 

Such special studies of medieval libraries are all too few at present. 

These articles should be brought in conjunction with Gottlieb, Uber Mit- 

telalterliche Biblioiheken, which see, and Becker, G. Catalogi Bibho- 

thecarum Antiqui. Bonn, 1885. 

Franke, K. Zur Geschichte dec Lateinischen Schulpoesie des XII and X/II 

Jahrhunderts, Miinchen, 1879. 

Valuable for a study of the ancient classics during these centuries. 
Gasouet. F. A. "English Scholarship in the Thirteenth Century," in The Dublin 
Review, 123 (1898), 356-373. 

Discusses especially John of Salisbury, Robert Grosseteste and Roger 
Bacon. Upholds that the thirteenth century was essentially scientific. The 
importance of the date 1204 (establishment of the Latin Kingdom in Con- 
stantinople) for the study of Greek in the West is much exaggerated. 
Gatien-Arnoult. "Jean de Garlande" in Revue de Toulouse. XXIII (1866), 177- 

237- 

One of the earliest papers which called attention to the importance 
of the life and work of John Garland. 
Gaudenzi, A. "Sulla Cronologia delle Opere dei Dettatori Bolognesi da Buon- 
enmpagno a Bene di Lucca," in Bullettino del' Istituto Stctico Italiano. Xo. 
14, Roma (1895), 85-174. 

The most recent special account of the ars dictaminis at Bologna. 
Although concerned chiefly with the chronology of the life and works of 
the chief dictatores, Boncompagno, Guido Faba and Bene, Gaudenzi con 
tributes also a good deal to the general history of the art. 
Ghirardacci. Delia Historia di Bologna. 2 Parts. Bologna, 1596, 1657. 

This old history of the city of Bologna is full of authentic material 
on the great law university. 
Giesebrfxht. G. De Litterarum Studiis apud Italos. Berolini, 1845. 

Was valuable for calling attention especially to the study of the 
classics in Italy before Petrarch. 

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126 

Giry, A. Manuel de Diplomatique. Paris, 1894. 

Useful for the study of the ars dictaminis and ars notaria. See es- 
pecially Book V, Les Chancelleries, and Book VI, Ch. I, Les Notaires 
Publics. 
Gottlieb, T. Uber Mittelalterliche Bibliotheken. Leipzig, 1890. 

Contains brief descriptions of the contents of catalogues of medieval 
libraries. Although the author says that he has made but a beginning 
in this work, his hook is very solid and useful. However, a good deal 
more must be done along this line before we can judge accurately the 
knowledge of the ancient classics during the Middle Ages. See above 
under Fournier, M. "La Bibliotheque de l'Univ. de Orleans." 
Graf. A. Roma nella Memoria e nelle lmmaginazioni del Medio Evo. 2 Vols. 
Torino, 1882-3. 

Reveals a good deal of humanistic feeling in the Middle Ages before 
the time of Petrarch. 
GrobeRj G. Grundriss dcr Romanischen Philologie. 2 Vols., 4 parts. Strassburg, 
1888-1902. 

Vol. II, Pt. 1, 97-432, contains a survey of Latin literature from the 
middle of the sixth century to 1350. A standard work famous for its 
accuracy. 
Gunthf.r, S. Geschichte des Mathematischen Unterrichts im Deutschen Mittel- 
alter bis cum Jahre 1525. Berlin, 1887. {Monumenta Germaniae Paedagog 
tea. III). 

Very scholarly. In its special held it decidedly amplifies Cantor, 
I'orlcsuuiieu, which see. 
Haiif.l. "Johannes de Garlandia," in Mitteilumjen dec Gesellschaft fiir deutschc 

Ersiehungsgeschichte, 1909. 
Haskins, C. II. "Life of Medieval Students as Seen in Their Letters," in Amer- 
ican Historical Review, III, 203-229. 

Professor Haskins has been very successful in utilizing the numerous 
extant but for the most part unpublished collections of forms for student 
letters. Incidentally, in the foot-notes, there are many bibliographical 
references useful for a study of the ars dictaminis. 
Haskins, C. H. "The University of Paris in the Sermons of the Thirteenth 
Century." in American Historical Review, X (1904), 1-27. 
See above under Bourgain. 
Haupt, M. "Uber das Registrum niultorum auctorum von Hugo von Trimberg 
v. J. 1280)," in Bcricht dcr Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften aits dem 
Jahre 1854, 142-164. 

See above under Hugo of Trimberg. 
Haureau, M. "Notices sur les Oeuvres Authentique on Supposees de Jean de 
Garlande," in Notices et Extraits, XXVII, pt. 2 (1869), 1-86. 

Still the hest critical study of the works of John Garland. 
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127 

Haureau, B. Histoire de Philosophic Scolastique. 3 Vols. Paris, 1872-80. 

Has not been wholly superseded as the standard history of scholasti- 
cism. Consult, however, the books of De Wulf. 
HeereNj A. H. L. Geschichte der Classischen Literatur im Mittelalter. 2 Vols. 
Gottingen, 1822. 

This book which was so useful in the past is practically superseded 
now by special works of more recent date. 

Hervieux, L. Les Fabulistes Latins depuis le Siccle d'Auguste jusqu'a la fin du 
Moyen Age. 5 Vols. Paris, 1893-1899. 

The most recent and by far the best work on the subject. Valuable 
for extended accounts of certain readers containing fables which were 
popular in the schools of the Middle Ages and were taught in connec- 
tion with grammar. The most important of the original texts appear in 
full. 
Histoire Litteraire de la France. Ouvrage commence par des religieux Benedic- 
tins de la Congregation de St. Maur (to Vol. XI), et continue par des mem- 
bres de lTnstitut (from Vol. XII to date). 3i Vols. Paris, 1733-1906. 

The monumental literary history of France by many authors, still in 
progress of publication. Naturally portions of the earlier volumes have 
long since gone out of date, but the work as a wdiole will probably never 
cease to be useful. 

Jourdain, A. Recherches Critiques sur I'Age et VOrigine des Traductions Latines 
d'Aristote, et sur les Commentaires Grecs mi Arabes employes par les Doc- 
teurs Scolastique. Paris, 1819. 2nd ed. 1843. 

This book revolutionized ideas about the influence of the works of 
Aristotle in the Middle Ages. It has been supplemented but not entirely 
supplanted. See especially Mandonnet, Siger de Brabant. For a recent 
bibliography of books on translations of philosophical and scientific works 
(mostly those of Aristotle) from the Arabic, see Haskins "A List of 
Text-Books," in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. XX (1909), 86, 
n. 1. 
Jourdain, Ch. Excursions Historiques et Philosophiques a trovers le Moyen Age. 
Paris, 1888. 

Contains various articles on Aristotle in the Middle Ages, one on 
Roger Bacon, etc. 
K ,\ mm 1 1.. O. "Die Universitaten im Mittelalter," in Schmid, Geschichte der 
Erziehung. Stuttgart, 1892, II, pt. 1, 334-548. 

A general account based largely on the best secondary authorities. 
Kaufman, G. Die Geschichte der dcutscheu Universitaten. 2 Vols. Stuttgart, 
1886, 1896. 

The standard special work on German universities in the Middle 
Ages. 

(617) 



128 

KiiRTiNc, G. Geschichte der Literatur It aliens im Zeitalter der Renaissance. 3 
Vols. Leipzig, 1884. 

Vol. Ill is devoted entirely to the medieval precursors of the Italian 
Renaissance. 

KREYj A. C. "John of Salisbury's Attitude towards the Classics," in Transactions 
of tlie Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, Madison. Vol. 
XVI, Part II (1909), 948-987. 

A master's thesis. University of Wisconsin. It supplements Schaar- 
schmidt, Johannes Sarcsberiensis. 
Laisne, A. M. "Xotice Biographique sur Alexandre de Villedieu," in Meiuoires 
de la Societe d'Archeologie, dc Litterature. Sciences et Arts d'Avranchcs. 11 
(1856). 

One of the earliest special studies on Alexander of Villedieu which 
have helped to rescue him from obscurity. 
Lai.anhk. A. "Histoire des Sciences. La Physique du Moyen Age," in Revue de 
Synthcse Historiquc, VII (1903), 191-218. 

For a good bibliography of physics and sciences in general in the 
Middle Ages consult the foot-notes, passim. 
I. am.i.ois. Ch. V. Questions d'Histoire ct d'Enseigncuient. Paris, 1902. 

Contains six essays, the first of which is one on the universities of the 
Middle Ages. Although it,js but a general sketch it is full of new and 
sound suggestions. 
Langlois, Ch. V. "L'Eloquence sacree au Moyen Age." in Revue des Deux 
Mondes, No. 115 (1893), 170-201. 

A good summary on the historical value of medieval sermons. See 
above, under Bourgain. 
Laude, P. J. Catalogue des Manuscrits dc la Bibliothcque de Bruges. Bruges, 

l8S9- 

The library at Bruges contains many of the works of John Garland 
and Alexander of Villedieu, which are listed and described in this cata- 
log. 
Lavisse, E. (ed). Histoire de France depuis les Origines jusqu'a la Revolution. 

Paris, 1903 ff. Many vols. In process of publication. 
Lavisse et Rambaud. (eds). Histoire Generate. 12 Vols. Paris, 1893-1901. 

These well-known French manuals are useful for our purpose es- 
pecially because of their convenient bibliographies. 
Le Clerc, V. Discours sur I'Etat des Lettres en France an 14c Siccle. Paris, 
1865. 

This excellent study of fourteenth century literature in France has 
been separately printed from Histoire Littcraire de la France, XXIV, 1-602. 
Lecoy de la Marche, A. La Choice Francaise au Moyen Age. Paris, 1868. 2nd 
ed. 1886. 

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129 

See above under Bourgain. Pt. Ill, ch. V, 450-467, treats of stu- 
dents and education ; Ch. VI, 467-491. of letters, sciences and arts. 
Lecrand d'Aussy. "La Bataille des Sept Arts, Fiction Critique et Satirique," in 
Notices et Extraits, V, 496-510. 

An extended abstract of Henri d'Andeli's Battle of the Seven Arts, 
with notes and comments, which are not all reliable. 
LoomiSj Louise R. Medieval Hellenism. Lancaster, Pa., 1906. 

A doctor's thesis, Columbia University. A general sketch covering 

rather hastily the whole Middle Ages preparatory for a work on the 

study of Greek during the Italian Renaissance. Apparently the author 

did not see Cuissard, L'Etude du Grec a Orleans (see above), and Tou- 

gard, L'Hellenisme dans les Ecrivains du Moyen Age. Paris, 1886. 

Loserth, J. Geschichte des' Spateren Mittelalters, von 1197 bis 149^. Munchen 

and Berlin, 1903. In Handbuch tier Mittelalterlichen und Neueren Geschichte, 

von Below und Meinecke. Abth. II. Politische Geschichte. 

Although a political history, its bibliographies are sometimes valuable 
for a history of medieval culture. 
Luchaire, A. L'Universite de Paris sous Philip le Bel. Paris, 1899. 
A short sketch on the political history of the university. 
Luquet, G. H. Aristote et I'Universite de Paris pendant les XHIe Steele. Paris, 
1904. Also in Bibliothcquc de L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes. Section des Sci- 
ences Religieuses, XVI, 2. 

The most recent contribution to the history of the introduction of the 

"New Aristotle" into the University of Paris. This is a preparatory 

study for a history of the works of Aristotle in the Middle Ages upon 

which the author is working. 

Lyte. M. A History of the University of Oxford from the earliest Times to the 

Year 1530. London, 1886. 

A general popular account. 
MaitlanDj S. R. The Dark Ages: — Essays Illustrating the State of Religion and 
Literature. London, 1844. Newest edition, 1890. 

Although named "The Dark Ages" this book has done much to dispel 
this term which has led to so many misconceptions about the culture of 
the Middle Ages. 
MaItre, L. Les Ecoles Episcopates et Monastiques de 1' Occident depuis Charle- 
magne jusqu'a Philippe-Auguste. Paris, 1866. 

Has been practically superseded by Specht, Geschichte des Unter- 
richtswesens, which see below. 
Maeacola, C. / Rettori dclle University dello Studio Bolognese. Bologna, 1SS7. 
A contribution to the history of the ars dictaminis at Bologna by one 
of the foremost historians of that university. 
Mandonnet, P. Siger de Brabant et L'Averroisme Latin an XlIIc Sieelc. Fri- 
bourg (Suisse), 1899. 

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130 

For our purposes this excellent monograph is valuable especially for 
the first few chapters which contain a history of the introduction of the 
"New Aristotle" into western Christendom. 
Manitius, M. "Beitrage zur Geschichte Romischer Dichter im Mittelalter," 
series of articles in Philologus, XLVII-LVI and Supplement VII, 758-66. 

These are some valuable preliminary studies which will be useful for 
future historians of the classics in the Middle Ages. See above under 
Comparetti. 

.Marshall, T. "The Life and Writings of Roger Bacon," and "The Philosophy of' 
Roger Bacon," in Westminster Review, LXXXI (1864). 1-14; 237-253. 

These two articles were written partly in the nature of reviews of the 

following books on Roger Bacon which had then but recently appeared : 

Brewer, Rogeri Bacon. Opera; Charles, Roger Bacon: and Pouchet, His- 

toire des Sciences Naturelles an Moyen Age, which see. 

Masius, II. ''Die Erziehung im Mittelalter." in Schmid, Geschichte der Erzie- 

hung, Stuttgart, 1892, II, pt. 1, 94-333. 

An account in nature similar to that of Kamel, "Die Universitaten," 
which see above. 
Meier, G. Die Sieben freien Ktinste im Mittelalter. Einsiedeln, 1885-1887. Pro- 
gramme des Benediktiner Stiftes Maria-Einsiedeln. 1 Heft (Trivium), 1885- 
86; 2 Heft ( Quadrivium ) , 1886-87. 

Although a mere "Programme" this little study is full of new side- 
lights on the seven liberal arts. 
Michael, E. Culturcustande des Deutsche)! Volkes wahrend des Dreizehnten 
Jahrhunderts. 3 Vols. Freiburg, 1897-1903. 

Michael is an ultra Roman Catholic. The work is based upon very 
extended research in the sources. 
Molinier. A. Les Sources de I'Histoire de France. Premiere Partie, Origines- 

1494. 6 Vols. Paris, 1901-1906. 
Molinier, A. "Etude sur reorganisation de l'Universite de Toulouse, au 
Quatorzieme et au Quinzieme Siecle ( 1309-1450)," in Devic et Vaissette, His- 
toire Generale de Languedoc, VII, 570-608. 

An extensive note written on the basis of the documents on the Uni- 
versity of Toulouse published in that same volume. 
Morand. "Questions d'Histoire Litteraire au Sujet du Doctrinale," in Revue des 
Societcs Savantes des Departements, XHIe Serie, II, (Paris, 1863), 50-59. 

Brought out a few new facts to supplement Thurot. De Alexandra de 
Villa Dei Doctrinali, which see. 
Mortreuil, J. A. B. L'Ancienne Bibliothcquc de I'Abbaye de St. Victor, Mar- 
seilles, 1854. 

Prints a list of books of this monastery (1195-1198) which probably 
faithfully reflects the studies pursued at that time at Marseilles. The 
list includes a fair number of Latin classics. 

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131 

MulliNger, J. B. University of Cambridge from the Earliest Times. Cambridge, 
1888. 

Comes down to the middle of the sixteenth century. 
. 'nro, I). C. "The Attitude of the Western Church toward the Study of the 
Latin Classics in the Early Middle Ages," in American Society of Church 
History, VIII (189;). 
Munro, D. C. "The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century," in Annual Report of 
the American Historical Association, 1906, Vol. I, 43-50. 

\ vhnrt but very suggestive paper read before the American Histor- 
ical Association. 
Xarbey, C. "Le Moine Roger Bacon et le Mouvement Scientihque an XHIe Steele," 
in Refiie de Questions Historiques, XXXV (1884), 1 15-165. 

A long general account but based largely on the sources. 
Neudecker, K. J. Das Doctrinale des Alexanders de Villa Dei and der Latein- 
ischer Unterricht wdhrend des Spdteren Mittelalters in Deutschland. Pro- 
gramme der Stadt. Realschule zu Pirma. 1885. 

Based largely on Thurot, Notices ct Extraits, XXII. pt. _>, and 
now entirely superseded by Reichling, Das Doctrinale. 
Norden, E. Die Antike Kunstprosa vom 6te\i Jahrhundert vor Christus bis in die 
Zcit der Renaissance. 2 Vols. Leipzig, 1898. 

Our period is comprised in the second volume. A remarkably good 
estimate of the classics during the Middle Ages. Attempts to bridge the 
gap which apparently cuts Petrarch off from the centuries which precede 
him. L T nlike many classical philologists, Xorden has taken the trouble to 
acquaint himself directly with the important medieval sources. 
Xovati. E. L'Influsso del Pensiero Latino Sopra la Civilta Italiana del Medio Evo. 
2nd edition. Milano, 1899. 

See chapter VIII for the ars dictaminis. 
Paetow, L. J. "The Xeglect of the Ancient Classics at the Early Medieval Uni 
versifies" in Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences. Arts and 
Letters. XVI, Pt. 1 (1908), 311-319. 

Contains the gist of the first chapter of this book. 
Parker H. "The Seven Liberal Arts." in English Historical Reviezv, V (iSgo), 
417-461. 

The special object of this article is to trace the origin of the medieval 
seven liberal arts. 
Parrot, A. Roger Bacon, sa Personne, son Genie, scs Oeuvres et ses Contempo- 
rains. Paris, 1S94. 

A brief eulogistic account. 
Paulsen, F. Geschichte des Gelehrten Unterrichls auf den Deutsche!'. Schulen 
und Universitdten vom Ausgang des Mittelalters bis zur Gegenwart. Mh 
Besonderer Rucksicbt auf den Klassischen Unterricht. _' Vols. Leipzig, 1885. 
2nd ed. 1896. 

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132 

The first chapter of Vol. I is a valuable review of medieval univer- 
sities, but the statements in regard to the substance and aim of instruction 
are often too sweeping. 

Poole, R. L. Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought. London, 1884. 

See especially chapters IV and VII for John of Salisbury and the 
classical studies at Chartres. 
Pouchet, F. A. Histoirc des Sciences Noturellcs an Moyen Age, ou Albert le 
Grand ct son E[>oque. Paris, 1853. 

Rambling; but one of the first books to emphasize strongly the scien- 
tific movement of the thirteenth century. Pouchet exaggerates the im- 
portance of Albert the Great at the expense of Roger Bacon. 
Rashdall, H. The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages. 2 Vols. Oxford, 

1895- 

The standard history of medieval universities. Rashdall had the ad- 
vantage of Denifle's profound investigations published in part in his Die 
Universitaten, I. Rashdall's book is out of print and very hard to ob- 
tain. A new edition would be welcome. 
Rockinger, L. "Uber die ars dictandi und die swnmae dictaminis in Italien," in 
Sitsungsberichte dcr Akademie der Wissenschaften cu Miinchen. I (1861), 
98 ff. 

Still the very best account of the ars dictaminis and ars notaria in 
Italy. 
Saintsburv, G. A History of Criticism and Literary Taste in Europe from the 
Earliest Texts to the Present Day. 3 Vols. Edinburgh and London, 1900. 

The first volume deals with Classical and Medieval Criticism. Neces- 
sarily very sketchy. 
Sandys, J. E. A History of Classical Scholarship from the Sixth Century B. C. 
to the E.nd of the Middle . h/es. Cambridge, 1903. Second edition revised and 
enlarged, 1906. 

An exceedingly serviceable book of reference because hitherto there 
has been no such manual in English. The second edition is fairly accu- 
rate. It was called forth partly by the rather scathing review of the 
first edition by Hamilton, G. L., in the American Journal of Philology. 25 
(1904), 447 ff. Recently (1908) a second and third volume have ap- 
peared which take the history of the subject from the beginning of the 
revival of learning to the nineteenth century. 
Sarti-Fattorini. De Claris Archigymnasii Bouoniensis Professoribus a Saeculo 
XI usque ad Sacculum XIV. Bononiae, 1772. New edition, Bononiac, 188S- 
1896. 

Our best source of information about the great masters of the ancient 
University of Bologna. 
Savigny, E. Geschichte des Rbmischcn Rcchts ini Mittclaltcr. 7 Vols, in 4. Hei- 
delberg, 1838-51. 

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133 

This pioneer work of the history of Roman law in the Middle Ages 
cleared up many points in connection with the great law universities of 
Europe. 
Schaarschmidt, C. Johannes Saresbcriensis nach Lcben und Studien, Schriften 
und Philosophic. Leipzig, 1862. 

Still the best general biography of John of Salisbury. 
Smith, J. J. A Catalogue of the MSS. in the Library of Gonville and Cains Col- 
lege. Cambridge, 1849. 

Useful for a description of the numerous works of John Garland 
which are preserved in this college library of Cambridge University. 
Specht, F. A. Geschichte des Unterrichtswesens in Deutschland von den Aeltesten 
Zciten bis cur Mitte des Dreisehnten Jalirhunderts. Stuttgart, 1885. 

Although written with special reference to Germany, this little book 
is the best general account of medieval education up to the founding of 
universities. Based on a study of sources throughout. 
Steinhausen, G. Geschichte der Dcutschcn Kultur. Leipzig, 1904 

Of the very numerous books of its kind this is the best succinct ac- 
count of German culture. It comes down to modern times. The volume 
is handsomely bound and is full of excellent illustrations. 
Suter, H. Die Mathematik auf den I'niversitatcn des Mittelalters. (Festschrift 
der Kantonschule zu Zurich). Zurich, 1887. 

Owing to its special character, this book finds room enough beside the 
works of Cantor and Giinther mentioned above. 
Sutter, C. Aus Leben und Schriften des Magister Buoncompagno. Freiburg i. 
B. und Leipzig, 1894. 

Depicts the personality of Boncompagno very well but gives a very 
inadequate idea of the ars dictaminis which he taught. It should be 
checked up constantly by the article of Gaudenzi described above. 
Taylor, H. O. The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages. N. Y., 1903. Sec- 
ond edition. 

This excellent little book contains but little that touches our period. 
Taylor, H. O. "A .Mediaeval Humanist: Some Letters of Hildebert of Levar- 
din," in Annual Report of the American Historical Association, 1906, Vol, 1. 
51-60. 
T/EUFFEL, W. S. and Schwabe. History of Roman Literature. Translated from 
the 5th German edition by G. Warr. 2 Vols. London and Cambridge, 1900. 
This standard historj of Roman Literature comes down to about 
800 A. D. 
Thurot, C. De I' Organisation de I'Enseignement dans VUniversite dc Paris au 
Moyen Age. Paris and Besangon, 1850. 

This is a doctor's thesis, University of Paris, and was a remarkable 
piece of work for its time. It is still useful today. 
Thurot, C. De Alexandra dc Villa Dei Doctrinali Eiusque Palis. Paris, 1850. 

This companion monograph to the above was scarcely less brilliant 
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134 

and once again brought Alexander of Villedieu into notice after he had 
been shelved for centuries by the humanists. It should be supplemented 
by what the author has himself added or corrected in Notices ct Extraits, 
XXII, pt. _'. It cannot be wholly discarded even now that Reichling has 
furnished such a fine study of Alexander in Das Doctrinale. 
Thurot. "Documents Relatif a l'Histoire de la Poesie Latine au Moyen Age," in 
Comptes Reudus de V Academic des Inscriptions, VI (1870), 259-269. 

Produces strong evidence that Eberhard of Bethune did not write the 
Labyriuthus. 

Tirauoschi. G. Storitt della Letteratura Italiana. 11 Vols. Milano, 1823. 

In a smaller compass this work is for Italy what the Histoire Littcr- 
aire de la France is for France. 
Torraca, F. "Al Proposito del Graecismus di Eberhardi di Bethune," in Rivista 

Critica della Letteratura Italiana, Anno V, 93 ff. Roma-Firenze, 1888. 
Valois, X. De Arte Scribendi Epistolas apud Galileos Mcdii Aevi Scriptores 
Rhetoresve. Paris, 1880. 

This doctor's thesis. University of Paris, is still the best general ac- 
count of the ars dictaminis in France. 
Valois, X. "Etude sur le Rythme des Bulles Pontificales" in Bibliothcque de 
I'Ecole des Chartes, XL1I (1881), 161 ff. and 257. 

A very important contribution on the subject of the cursus. 
Vaughn, E. V. The Origin and Early Development of the English Universities 
to the Close of the Thirteenth Century. A study in Institutional History. 
University of Missouri Studies, Social Science Series, Vol. II, No. 2 (Aug., 
1908). 

The introductory chapter on medieval culture contains nothing new. 
Vipal. Histoire de la Ville de Perpignan. Paris, 1897. 

It is the best history of the city and is quoted because it contains 
some references to the early history of the University of Perpignan. 
VoiGT, E. "Das Erste Lcsebuch des Triviums in den Kloster- und Stiftsschulcn 
des Mittelalters," in Mitteilungen der Gesellschafi fur Deutsche Erziehung 
und Schulgeschichte. Jahrgang I, Heft I (Berlin, 1891), 42-53. 

An interesting account of the Cato, Aesop and Avianus so extensive- 
ly read in medieval schools. 

V t. G. Die Wiederbelebung des Classischen Alterthums. 2 Vols. 3rd c-1 

Berlin, 1893. 

This excellent work on the revival of learning is valuable for us 
especially for its account of the sporadic revival of classical letters at the 
University of Paris in the fourteenth century. In the introductory chap- 
ter Voigt takes a narrow view of the study of the classics during the 
Middle Ages. 
Wattenbach, W. Das Schriftwesen im Mittelalter. Leipzig, 1871. 3rd ed. 1896. 
Useful for a study of the ars dictaminis. 
(624) 



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